


How to Roll (with a Divergent Reality)

by loveluckylost



Category: Steven Universe (Cartoon)
Genre: Adventure, Alien Cultural Differences, Alien Flora & Fauna, Alien Technology, Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Angst, Comedy, Danger, Gen, Homeworld Hierarchy (Steven Universe), Homeworld is Horrible, Magic and Science, Misery, Missions, Murder Mystery, Mutiny, Rebellion, Space Adventure, Space Stations, Swearing, The Human Zoo, Zoomans, space
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-04-09
Updated: 2019-09-13
Packaged: 2020-01-07 12:28:59
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 23
Words: 140,706
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18410660
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/loveluckylost/pseuds/loveluckylost
Summary: He was too late. It had all gone so wrong.This fiction focuses on a reality where the Off Colors’ journey to Earth came instead to a sudden, miserable end - A reality wherein Steven and Connie were unable to meet up with Lars aboard the Sun Incinerator.The debris from this sad situation gives rise to a whole new mess - an unlikely alliance, the beginnings of a new rebellion, and a hunt for the missing gems.Heavily canon divergent post-'Kevin Party'.





	1. The End.

**Author's Note:**

> This fic ruins the sequence of events taking place after Season Five's 'Kevin Party’ and will also reference parts of my other fic on occasion, but I don’t think it’s completely necessary to have read it.

He was too late. It had all gone so wrong.

The jasper destroyed Padparadscha’s physical form in the dark of the night without mercy on impact, and he couldn’t help but watch from only a handful of yards away as his wonderful little friend exploded into a fine haze that dissipated quickly into the air. If only he’d thought to grab her as soon as they knew that they were sprung by Crazy Lace and her cronies. If only they’d noticed she’d been lagging behind. If only he’d been quicker in doubling back from the warp pad - they could have, they would have, _he_ should have..

But as it happened, he could only utter a breathless “No-” that caught in his throat as her little gem clattered onto the ground, inactive.

The last thing he heard were his remaining friends, their panicked footsteps approaching hurriedly from behind him. All at once they were crying, freaking out, yelling encouragement, trying to reach him, rushing in to attempt to fight, before it happened.

Unfortunately, it happened.

The last thing Lars saw was the other jasper, smiling sadistically, rapidly filling his vision.

The last thing he felt was nothing.

 

* * *

 

The next thing he saw was Blue Diamond looming insanely large before him. His body was racked with pain and his mind drenched with fear and confusion, but he soon noticed there were words happening in the room around him. He had to know what they were, and so he focused his wavering senses on them.

“It’s.. pink,” Blue Diamond was whispering in surprise when his hearing tuned in enough, and he was truly startled to realize that he had her complete attention. “A pink human. How.. bizarre. Where did you find it?”

A familiar voice replied, coming from somewhere he couldn’t see. “It was on Upsilon IX, My Diamond. It was with the band of off color traitors who crash-landed and attempted to pirate a ship from the local spaceport, we were told.”

Blue Diamond leaned down close, moved one of her gigantic touchstumps even closer, and poked Lars gently in the forehead.

He tried to move away, but he was stuck.

He blinked, a sickness washing over him. Stuck?

Why was he stuck?

The realization hit him like a car hits a deer. For the third or fourth or fifth time in his life, he was stuck immobile in a Topaz fusion. He couldn’t speak, but he could hear, see and breathe. And be poked by the glorious, shimmering, radiant Blue Diamond herself with all the curiosity of a child at a petting zoo. She soon pulled back her finger, her expression wistful.

“Reminds me of..” she sobbed without restraint for a brief moment before appearing to collect herself. “..I want to keep it. Take this human to the Zoo. Add it to the collection. I want it cared for.”

He felt tears drop down onto the back of his head from the fusion, and the unknown speaker sounded as though she was also trying to suppress a sob as she spoke next.

“A-at once, My Diamond.”

“As for.. the traitors,” her voice was suddenly hard. Cold. “Give them to me.”

Lars, alarmed, tried to speak, looking around as well as he could with his limited scope of vision. Suddenly, Aquamarine flew into view.

Aquamarine. Judging from her manner of dress and gem placement, it was the very same one that abducted him. The same Topaz fusion, for that matter, in all likelihood. But that stopped being important the second he caught sight of the bubble. The blue bubble, with an unbelievable fortune’s worth of gems inside. Aquamarine motioned it up towards Blue Diamond, who held it suspended above her own index touchstump and gazed into it.

All the friends he ever had out here in space were resting, dormant, bubbled. Helpless in the hands of a tyrant from which they all had been trying so hard to flee.

He had to really try hard to listen to the words that were happening around him through his grief.

“These worthless gems are to be re-purposed.”

“We should shatter them! They are criminals, Blue!” came Yellow Diamond’s stern voice from outside Lars’ limited scope of vision. He recognized her voice immediately and, when he remembered her terrifying demeanor from the last time they were in the same room together, it caused the guy to panic uselessly even more, as though he wasn’t enough already.

“No, Yellow. Their gems can still be useful to the empire they so flagrantly disrespected.” She rolled the ball over her fingers in a manner that seemed to Lars to be playful, but her countenance suggested otherwise. “One, at least, shall go in a mirror to be questioned in case there are others. The rest.. will find other ways to be useful.”

“Fine,” Yellow resigned herself from the situation. Obviously, as long as Blue was kept happy, Yellow could deal.

“Depart now,” said Blue with a wave of her hand.

“Thank you, My Diamonds.”

The floating Aquamarine and the Topaz fusion promptly turned around and retreated, taking an extremely unwilling and mournful third party with them.

 

* * *

 

“I’m.. sorry.”

Lars’ attention snapped back to the now. It was Topaz. Odd, they were alone - Aquamarine had floated away to hang out up in her levitating chair while they were en-route to this zoo they had mentioned, and he hadn’t been aware of her annoying voice in some time. It was a moment before he realized the fusion was speaking to him. Maybe she remembered him. Recognized him, even though he was pink now.

He breathed in and out through his nostrils. It was all he could do.

 

* * *

 

“We’re here,” said Aquamarine, floating back down. Lars swiveled his eyes away from her, in a mood, as Topaz stood.

They emerged from the ship’s mood-lit interior out into the bright docking bay of the Human Zoo. Unprepared for how bright it was, Lars squinted hard.

A couple of Amethysts guarded the entrance to the inner sanctums of the facility, watching the approach quietly, and were promptly joined by what Lars distastefully recognized as another blue Agate.

“Aquamarine! How lovely to see you finally!” She was smiling. “We were patiently awaiting your arrival some time ago now.”

“Yes, yes, well, something came up. Something just a _bit_ more important to the Diamonds than adding to this.. little collection,” Aquamarine smirked.

“Oh? Well don’t keep me waiting - do tell!” Holly Blue pent her touchstumps with excitement.

“Ah, I don’t want to bore you with the details, Holly Blue. Just know that is was vital and much more suited to my unique set of skills than tracking down and lugging around these horrible creatures.”

She gestured to Lars, who was still trapped in the fusion. All he could do in response was huff through his nose and roll his eyes.

Holly Blue Agate grimaced. “Wh-what in the name of the Stars - that looks like a gem. It’s not dull at all.”

“But it’s not a gem,” smiled Aquamarine. “They checked it all over - and it couldn’t be poofed. It just started.. leaking, instead. It was gross. There’s no gem. It’s a human. Blue Diamond herself asked for it to be added to the collection.”

“My, how curious. But why is it.. pink?”

The small gem simply shrugged. “I’ve seen this kind before though - it’s called a ‘Lars’. I guess Larses also come in pink? And what it was doing on one of Blue Diamond’s colonies in the company of a bunch of rag-tag rebel gems, I’ll never know.” She chuckled.

“Hmm,” Holly Blue frowned at Lars. “Well, it should.. be a fine addition, anyway.” She barked suddenly. “Amethysts!”

“Yes, Holly Blue?” responded an Amethyst from the door.

“Relieve this poor Topaz fusion of the human and take it for processing.”

In a flash of light, the Topaz unfused and then re-fused, spitting Lars out onto the floor in the middle of the process. It was at that moment of hitting the floor that Lars’ entire body started screaming at him, in pain at all the sudden movement after the relatively comfortable stasis of the fusion surrounding him, holding everything in place. As blood started to move around his body once more, he became suddenly and profoundly aware of possible broken bones, maybe a fractured rib or two, flesh wounds, and bruising. His previously white pants had dark pink bloodstains, as well as his shirt - and both were in tatters. He didn’t know or particularly care where his cape or gloves had disappeared to.

He grit his teeth tightly and groaned loudly, huddling into himself, fetal on the floor.

But Holly Blue Agate ignored all that and instead focused her attention on her fellow blue gem. “Do you have time to stay? I do so miss our chats. It was such a long time ago that you brought us our last addition. A little over five thousand years, maybe.”

“Yes, I might have a little time to spend with my dear friend before I have to go again. An Aquamarine’s work is never done, as they say! Topaz!” she barked suddenly. “Stay and help guard the door!”

Topaz stood impassively nearby as the blue gems traveled off back down the hall while Lars doubled over in pain, breathing hard. The Amethysts that had been approaching slowly were obviously familiar with humans and their behaviors and ran over a little quicker. They slid to a stop before him.

“Yaa.. Looks like a male. Late adolescence maybe. What’s wrong with him?”

“He looks pretty broken. Are his listeners supposed to be like that? And, what does it mean when they turn pink?”

“Uh, I guess maybe he just _is_ pink. What do we do?”

“This has happened before, remember? Humans are pretty resilient, to a point. But this one needs to be fixed. See that? That’s called ‘blood’.”

“I know what blood is! That’s the stuff that gets all over the new humans when they first emerge.”

“So you know that usually it’s more.. red than pink, I guess? Anyway, humans are better off when the blood is kept on the inside.”

“Hey, uh.. pink human,” said the other, grabbing him by the shoulder. “Can you stand?”

Lars tested his quiet theory that he could, and found that it was painful, but possible. He found himself forced to cradle an obviously broken arm.

“Uhh, yeah..” he replied groggily, his larynx unused to pushing out sound for now.

“Come with us, we’ll get you fixed up maybe.”

“If we can find out how!”

They laughed as they escorted Lars from the docking bay, down the hallway. He glanced back at the Topaz fusion before he left. She stared, unblinking, until he left her vision and she his.

More of the familiar gem architecture, repeating patterns, straight lines, attractive but alien. He hobbled his way past it, and the Amethysts soon directed him to an ancient, dusty sickbay of sorts. He sat down on the hard bed as directed to, and then looked up at the gems.

“Okay, well, now what do we do?” One of them asked.

The other Amethyst shrugged. “How am I supposed to know?!”

“Ugh, don’t you know anything about humans?” Lars was very irate. “I heard this was a human zoo, right? You’re supposed to know we have bones and stuff.. right?”

“Hey! Of course we know you guys have bones!”

“That’s like, Cycle One of learning about humans!”

“It’s just.. been a long long time since something like this last happened.”

“So obviously this bone is broken,” grimacing in pain, Lars motioned to his right humerus super awkwardly. “You have to set it so it can heal properly. And also I might need stitches.. wherever all that blood was coming from. I clearly need a doctor.”

“What’s a doctor?” asked one of the gems.

“What’s a doctor!” parroted Lars, alarm bells ringing.

“Ugh, I wish humans could just poof and reform,” moaned one of them. “Why do organics have to be so messy?”

“I tried that already, how do you think I got like this?” Lars tried to use sarcasm to help the pain, but quickly found it did nothing.

One of them stepped back to study him briefly. “How DID you get like this?”

“..A jasper.”

“Woo-hoo-hoo! How did you get to ever be fighting a jasper, little pink human?”

“The name’s Lars,” he said bad-temperedly. “And I dunno. How does a proud amethyst warrior find herself working at a stupid zoo?”

The amethyst looked suddenly enraged. “Hey! That’s personal!”

The other amethyst laughed a little. “Cool down, amethyst. He’s just trying to mess with you. All these new humans are so sassy.” She went over to a desk and grabbed something that Lars thought resembled a tablet, but was more of a clear slab of rectangular crystal. She swiped a few things around.

“Great, here. Here’s what we do. Lars, right? Lie back. So, we just take his arm, and snap the two bits of bone back together so that it’s straight again and tie a stick to it or something so it heals in.. forty-two to eighty-four cycles. Amazing, how humans just heal themselves without having to release and reform, right?”

Lars looked alarmed. “What about the -pain-?”

The gems exchanged glances, confused. “What -about- the pain?”

“You know, drugs? For.. stopping the pain?”

The amethyst skimmed the reference material again. “Nothin’ in here about it.”

Lars looked uneasy, then figured it would be better to not prolong the inevitable. He lay back on the hard slab gingerly and closed his eyes. The pain was soon so great that he blacked out anyway.

 

* * *

 

He was back home. His parents were there - disappointed, as usual, by whatever his latest foolish adventure had been but he was so glad to see them. A Knock. He went to get the door that was suddenly there. He inexplicably knew that Sadie was on the other side of it. He reached for the door handle eagerly.

He came back to the sensation of a poke to the face.

“Oh! He’s not dead after all! Good thing we fixed him up anyway. You’re good at this, Amethyst.”

The other one smiled happily. “Thank you, Amethyst! You too!”

“You can get up now. Mind the stick, and the ‘stitches’.”

He groaned and sat up with a deeply uncomfortable throbbing pain in his arm, which he noticed did in fact have a literal stick tied to it for the purpose of keeping it straight.

“Hnnngh. You guys.. need to update your practices. Can I also have a sling?”

Another brief consult of the reference material later, Lars’ arm was held in place a little more comfortably with a material sling - really just a length of fabric suspending his elbow from his neck, but he could admit to himself that he expected much less from a race that didn’t have bones in the first place.

“Well, great to have met you, Lars! We gotta put you through the assimilation bay now.”

“Get up. Come with us.”

 

* * *

 

A hatch in the wall opened, and though Lars was visibly reluctant and too much in pain to get in, one of the Amethysts picked him up and popped him down on what seemed like a small, tiled passageway inside it. He grimaced as the process hurt his already sore body, but he still scrambled to try to get back out. It was a difficult thing to do while also trying to hold his recently-set arm immobile against his torso.

“See ya!” one of them said as the door shut.

He glanced around as he sat on his knees, panicking suddenly in the darkness, until a light came on and what turned out to be a conveyor belt underneath him rudely started rolling him away, almost forcing him to fall forward flat on his face.

He scrambled around so that he could see what was in store for him, and quickly found himself to be conveyed through a narrow transparent tube - it appeared to be the only thing between him and the vacuum of space for now. His mouth dropped open as he gazed up at it, and then towards the central structure of the space station that he was apparently being moved toward.

Upon moving inside it, four blue cylinders floated down from somewhere else, and came to a stop before his face. They stood as if to attention for a moment, before turning and shining some kind of a light directly into his face. He screwed up his face, baring his teeth and narrowing his eyes, his good arm unable to protect his face from the light as it was preoccupied keeping the other one still against him.

The cylinders formed an octogon and suddenly displayed the picture that had just been taken of him, overlaid with notes that he couldn’t understand. He wrinkled his face up at it, displeased, and with his good arm tried to grab it, but it flew away.

“Hey! What! Come back here!”

He almost fell again as the conveyor belt ground to a halt. In front of him - eight of the cylinders, this time. The way these ones were looking at him completely made him feel like he was under attack.

His suspicions were soon confirmed as they floated over to him and aggressively grabbed his mouth to check his teeth, smoosh his cheeks, and check his eyes - shining another light.

“Ahh- Sto-”

Another of them crammed itself into his mouth briefly, then another two straight up his nostrils after he spat it out.

“Holy fuck, what!”

Then they started to undress him by pulling his boots off.

“HEY. NO.”

Then they went for his shirt, which he desperately resisted on account of his arm. They then became preoccupied by de-pantsing him instead, which made him fall onto his back. He hurriedly took off the sling and carefully but quickly removed his shirt, since he figured it was going to happen anyway. He held his throbbing arm firmly against his torso again and watched as the finger-things flew away with his clothes off his back.

“Auuugh,” he groaned as he lay there wearing nothing but the splint and his underpants. A new set of fingers soon flew up to his face. This time, he merely raised an eyebrow at them, just waiting for whatever new horrible thing they were going to do to him. And there it was - a cloud of chemicals, directly into his face, causing him to cough loudly as the conveyor belt began to move again.

He awkwardly came back up into a sitting position again just in time to see a huge contraption stomping down from the ceiling every couple of seconds, directly in the path of the conveyor.

“Gaaa-AAAA”

He staggered up onto his feet, sweating anxiously, and held his bad arm closely into him again as he tried to escape. No matter how fast he tried to hobble awkwardly away, however, he couldn’t seem to do anything besides move closer to it at a steady rate.

Suddenly, it crashed down on him and a moment later released him only to find himself wearing a rather outmoded style of dress. He stared down at it in complete surprise.

“What in the complete f-”

He yelped again as the floating fingers returned, this time armed with little pink and blue triangle-things that he quickly found himself wearing as ear piercings. He shed a single tear as he mourned the structural integrity of his already stretched lobes.

Two translucent pink walls came down, boxing him into an enclosed space. He stood uncertainly for a moment, then slowly stooped down to grab the sling that was still on the ground below him despite all that running. Standing awkwardly again, he waited for something else horrible to happen.

“..Uh, hello? Will someone tell me what the heck’s going on? HEY? A-amethysts?!”

Suddenly, water from above. He panicked. However, as the box filled up, it had the strange effect of not allowing Lars to submerge into it. Soon, instead of floating in water that should have come up well above his head, he found himself supported by the surface of it and soon enough he was almost pressed up into the ceiling of the container by it.

Trying not to lose his mind with fear, he tried calling out again, “UHH.. AMETHYSTS? HELP ME?”

After a few moments, the roomful of water flushed out and he rode the surface of it all the way down until found himself dumped dry in a kink in the tube as the water continued on its merry way, being sucked upwards this time. It was an awkward long moment before he assumed whatever gem was in control of the plumbing had noticed the problem and flushed it out again. This time, he found himself awkwardly sitting on top of the surface of upwards-rushing water, before being smashed up into a ceiling made of water. For a brief moment, still traveling upwards, he was submerged before he popped up out above a whole new watery surface, and splashed back down, again to come to a rest on top of the surface of it in a truly unnatural way.

He gasped for air and coughed a couple of times, on his knees and supported by his good arm. As he stopped, he noticed first his reflection staring back at him all pink, light hair, scarred, and then he noticed that although he was seeing ground under the reflective shallow water, he wasn’t touching it at all. His hand and knees came to rest on top of the water.

A pang of pain made him quickly take stock of the arm in the sling, so he sat back onto his knees and adjusted himself carefully until it felt a little better. But he quickly became distracted by his surroundings and looked up to find himself in the weirdest place ever.

“What the.. huh?!”

It was daytime, in a picturesque pool surrounded by a verdant green wood. Behind him, a rocky hill jutted out of the pool, covered in waterfalls the source of which he couldn’t make sense of - it all just seemed to be falling down from the sky directly above it. The sound of birdsong and crickets filled the air. The sky - a familiar Earth blue - but it seemed like there was glass panels in front of it, or holding it up. Or projecting it. As he stared up at the ‘sky’, he noticed there was no breeze playing among the canopy of the trees. And though there was birdsong, no sign of a single bird.

“CANON-BAAAAALL!”

The splash was so great, he had to blink to keep drops of it from getting in his eyes before glaring at the perpetrator. He was suddenly taken aback. After so long in space, surrounded by gems, he was surprised to find himself face-to-face with other humans. One was a man, maybe a few years older than Lars, with dark skin and black hair, the other a lighter woman with blond hair. They were both tall, healthy and very attractive and dressed in the same manner as he was.

“Oh, wow! A New Friend!” The man pointed, and began to wade his way over through the water towards him.

The woman smiled and did so too. “Hey! New Friend! I am Jay-Ten, This is Wy-Six. You are a Very Pretty Color. What is your Name?”

“I’m, uh, Lars.” He breathed a sigh of relief as he started awkwardly putting the sling back on around his arm. “Hey, it’s so good to see other humans again. Listen, some gems set my arm, and maybe it worked? But I don’t think they knew what they were doing. Is there a real doctor around? Also - what is this place?”

“Ah-Lars! Welcome!” beamed the man, Wy-Six. Before Lars could correct him, he appeared to notice the sling. “Now, why have you put your Arm inside that.. Thing?”

“What a Silly Place for an Arm!” chimed Jay-Ten, laughing. “It would be hard to Grab the Fruit, wouldn’t it?”

Lars could only blink and stare, eyebrows raised, for a long moment. “..Huh? My arm is, uh, broken.”

“What is Ah-Broken?”

In the awkward silence that followed, Lars noticed Wy-Six was checking out his strange manner of staying on the surface of the water.

“Hmm.. How are you Doing that, Ah-Lars?” he asked, attempting to place his foot atop the surface of the water, but of course only the mundane laws of physics could ever apply to a normal human, and so it sank straight down into the sandy floor of the shallows. Lars watched in disbelief as the grown man tried again to gain traction atop the water’s surface, and again, predictably, failed. “Whoops!”

And then Lars also felt really dumb because, up until the point at which this ignorant human had made his own ability to submerge obvious by trying to copy him, he had assumed it was because it was magic water.

Lars freaked out a little and hurriedly scrambled to stand up, and found that he was still standing clear on the water’s surface. It rippled gently as a result of each of his movements and became slightly bouncy when downward force was applied, but otherwise didn’t try to rush away from him to displace his volume. Instead, it supported him just as reliably as solid ground would have.

“Whaaaat-”

But no, it didn’t matter whether he was sitting or standing, neither was it magic water; As always, it had to be because he was pink now.

He hurriedly but carefully made for the nearby sandy shore, where he found more humans of all different shapes and sizes, all really well looked-after, and dressed in the same manner as he. He sweat nervously as he ground to a stop.

“Everyone, this is Ah-Lars! He has just now Arrived!” called Jay-Ten as she followed him.

“Hi, Ah-Lars!” the super friendly crowd of people chorused in unison.

His jaw dropped for the second time in mere minutes as the true nature of this place fully dawned on him. These weren’t humans like he knew back on Earth. They were zoo animals, and they were looking at him expectantly.

“..Hi,” he responded, eyes wide, on high alert.

Suddenly, the humans rushed him. A little afraid, he was soon fake-smiling with uncertainty as he found himself bombarded with questions.

“Why is it that You are Pink?”

“Geeze, uh, that’s a long story-” replied Lars, baffled.

“Can I be Pink someday? It is Pretty!”

He tried his best to level with the asker of that question. “Uh, look, you wouldn’t like how it happens-”

“Are you going to Un-Arrive soon?” another of them asked pleasantly enough, but with a touch of anxiety.

That one lost him. “Huh?”

Another ruffled his curly, messy hair with her hand.

“Yo, watch the hair!” He made a movement to try to wave her hand away, but gasped a little as his arm jostled in a painful way. “Yaaagh-uh..”

“What is Wrong? Are you.. Hurt?” asked someone in alarm, causing many of the others to make sympathetic and sad noises.

“Why is your Arm in that.. Thing?” This human sounded mildly amused.

Lars narrowed his eyes, noticing how this crowd of simple people were odd as heck. “Aaah.. don’t worry about it.”

_“Now it’s time to play!”_

He yelped and jumped violently as a strange disembodied woman’s voice spoke directly into his ears, and instantly grabbed his other arm. He hunched over, shutting his eyes, very quietly hissing some delicious swearword through clenched teeth because, judging by the chuckling crowd around him, he had an inkling that none of these humans would understand any of it.

Wy-Six walked up and placed a hand on his good shoulder. “Ah-Lars, it’s okay! You just don’t know what a Little Voice is.”

“REALLY?” Lars was trying to sound not-in-intense-pain. He took a breath and tried again. “I, I mean, really?”

“You are an odd one, Ah-Lars,” smiled Jay-Ten. “Why don’t you come and Play!”

Lars had no choice but to go along, simultaneously being pulled and pushed gently by the two ultra-friendly humans.

 

* * *

 

Soon, Lars stood atop a rolling hill, uneasily hunched forward slightly, gingerly watching the gleeful denizens of this place await their turn patiently and rolling down it without a care in their fake little world.

 

* * *

 

_“Now, everyone. Reach up like you’re going to touch outer space.”_

Looking out over a clearing in the woods which was full of people performing this odd ritual, Lars was surprised to find himself being invited by one of them to join in. The human smiled up at him and patted the grassy space next to him. He shook his head and backed away slowly, his very bones awash with a vague sense of nausea.

 

* * *

 

_“Its time to stop and smell the flowers.”_

Wy-Six danced his way up to delicately place a pretty pink flower into Lars’ pretty pink hair. He didn’t notice at that moment - too busy trying to turn down an offer of a sniff of someone else’s carefully plucked flower. He grit his teeth and jumped slightly as he noticed the flower fall from his hair suddenly out of the corner of his eye. The other human, finding this pink human’s behavior strange and amusing, chuckled wholesomely.

 

* * *

 

_“Time to clean up, everyone. Let’s all take a refreshing bath.”_

Soon, Lars watched as people piled into the lake at what he’d come, over the course of the day, to consider the centerpiece of this perfect little world. Every member of this community was laughing, playing, splashing, cannon-balling - having the time of their lives.

It was unsettling to watch.

But the water looked inviting, and he knew he needed a wash.

After a moment he approached and, holding his breath in trepidation, attempted to dip his toes into the shallow waters. As before, he was met with resistance. His brow furrowed, his expression a cross between fear and uncertainty as he slowly placed more and more of his weight down upon its surface, which did nothing more than ripple and bob lightly underfoot in a manner that reminded him a little of his trampoline back home but otherwise supported his weight just as well as solid ground always had.

No bathing for Lars today.

He spotted a waterfall cascading down from the hill, and carefully crossed the surface of the water to stand underneath it. He felt the water wetting his hair, dampening his clothes, running down his body, getting into his eyes, mingling with the tears that were already beginning to sting them.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I loved the sequence of events that Steven went through on his way into the containment area, so I just had to do a blow-by-blow for Lars.
> 
> And I’m assuming Lion and Lars can’t switch the water thing off - that it’s not just a ‘Lion is a cat, therefore hates water’ thing. I looked it up and apparently, while not known as swimmers as much as tigers are, lions do swim if they need to.


	2. The Zooman.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Steven and Connie are disturbed to find out what has become of Lars, but could there be more to it than they think?

Weeks passed.

Lars was sitting quietly on a high ledge jutting out of the rocky and vegetation-covered hill rising from the center of the lake. It was ‘night’ in the containment area. All was silent, aside from the series of delicate waterfalls originating from a point high above the hill. The fake crescent moon hung high in the constructed sky overhead. All was peaceful and, aside from moving water, all was still. He tried closing his eyes to be one with it all, only to jolt violently forward as Steven and Connie suddenly fell through his hair.

“Steven?!” He’d almost completely forgotten about the portal in his head, but there it was - still a thing. He watched as the two kids crouched where they landed.

An odd moment passed unspoken between the three. Finally, Steven spoke.

“Lars?” he asked as he stared at his long lost friend, noticing the clothes, the earrings, the despised loincloth. The kid stood up quickly. “What.. is going on?”

“Well Steven, I’m havin’ a great time here at the Zoo.” He was a bit snarkier than he meant to be this evening. “Things must be going pretty well for me, right?”

“Is this.. the Human Zoo?” asked Connie, coming to her feet, holding onto her backpack straps and glancing around cautiously. “But, how.. What are we doing here?”

“W-wait!” asked Steven, alarmed. “What are YOU doing HERE!? Where are the Off Colors? Lars!”

A heavy silence hung in the air as Lars turned to look away from the kids. This all felt.. off, somehow. It felt so wrong. He wished he could have made something more of himself before having this little kid that he nonetheless looked up to careen through his hair again.

But here they were, in the midst of a dark timeline.

“Lars?” Steven asked, softer this time.

The older kid shrugged. “The rest of the Off Colors are all being re-purposed for the good of the Diamond’s Perfect Empire,” he muttered darkly.

Steven and Connie exchanged glances, worried. “Wh-what?”

Lars turned back and perked up suddenly, recognizing the girl from her relatively frequent visits with Steven to the Big Donut over the last couple of years. “Oh, hey.. Connie, right?”

“Uh, yeah, hey Lars!” Connie smiled, recognizing the surly teen who worked at the donut shop.

“So, wait.. is Connie half gem as well?” Lars was very confused.

Connie giggled and shook her head. “Oh, no. I’m all human. But Pearl and the others have been training me to fight, and Steven and I make a great team.”

“She’s totally a Crystal Gem though,” smiled Steven.

“Oh, stoppit, Steven,” Connie blushed modestly.

Connie attempted a smile at Lars despite his general mood, but found it disappearing shortly after as Lars glanced down at them impassively with maybe a hint of irritability. A large hint.

“Well anyway, Steven, please don’t bring your friends through my head while I’m stuck in space, okay? Seems kinda dangerous. You guys could have fallen off this fake hill, onto those soft-ish rocks, and into that completely un-dangerous lake down there,” he said, motioning with a hand down at the items as he mentioned them.

He was brooding, and in a mood - Steven could tell. He frowned at his friend and went to sit by him, placing a hand on his back. He was silent for a long moment. When he did speak, his voice came out small and sad.

“Lars, I’m.. I don’t know what to say. I’m.. sorry I couldn’t come back for so long. I’m so sorry - I could have helped you. I should have stayed. But instead, I have let you down worse than ever.” He lowered his head gravely. “There’s no excuse for it.”

Connie gaped at Steven as she realized he was wrong. She stood in front of them both, gesturing to herself. “Yes, there is! It.. was my fault,” said Connie, her sweet heart filled with regret. “Steven and I, we got into a big argument after he came back from Homeworld.. and Lion must have been on my side because he stayed with me at my house for weeks afterward, which meant that Steven couldn’t come back.. But, that’s all just details. Lars - I-I didn’t think! I’m the reason why Steven couldn’t come back until now. I’m the one who should be sorry!”

Steven was frantic. “Connie, no, it was me!” He shook Lars with both hands. “Lars, don’t listen to her. It’s all my fault! I was being stubborn.”

Lars was about to say something, but they weren’t done arguing. He hesitated, looking out from their vantage point over the fake forest through half-closed eyes as they continued in this way a little longer.

“No, it’s my fault! I was the one-”

“Connie, no! It was my bad, okay?!”

“But you made the only call you could make, in giving yourself up to Homeworld. It was the only option!”

“No, it wasn’t! Because you were right. We could have fused and fought together! You’re always right, Connie! You’re so smart! I really let you down. I let everyone down.”

Connie balked at his statement. “But, no! No matter what we did, Lars would have still been on the ship! If we’d failed, he would have still been dragged here -alone, even- with no hope of rescue since those rubies took their Roaming Eye back!”

“We could have-” Steven stopped short, not able to think of anything, grasping for an alternative with a look of despair in his eyes. For a boundless universe overflowing with possibility, it suddenly seemed to Steven that the options were shockingly limited whenever it came to crunch.

“It doesn’t matter,” Lars cut in. “I wanted you to go back home for a reason, man. The Diamonds want to shatter your gem, remember? That would have meant the end of you, right? It was better you didn’t visit. It would have just meant that you’d have also been in danger, just like everyone else. And.. look what happened.”

Connie stepped forward to sit beside Steven, putting an arm around him. Steven’s voice was a little shaky as he uttered his following words. “So. W-what happened? Was it the.. robonoids?” he whispered the last word, aware of how Lars had perished because of those things.

Steven and Connie both jumped in fright as Lars unexpectedly raised his head and laughed. He turned his head to look down at the kids again, and flicked a wrist up.

“Hah! You think the robonoids could even lay a scratch on us once we figured out how to exploit them? That was only Level One. I’m actually pretty embarrassed that it only took one of those idiot ice cream cones to kill me. Oh man,” he laughed again, wistful this time. “Those things.. I almost actually miss that. Those were the days.”

He sighed, and suddenly felt guilty. He pulled his knees into his torso with both arms and sunk his shoulders in. “Look, I.. really don’t mean to be a dick to you kids. I just want to sit in peace. I’m not in the mood right now. Maybe if you wanna come back tomorrow, we can talk and catch up-”

“Laaaars! You’re an exhibit in a space zoo!” Steven was frantic. “You’re in serious trouble! We have to bust you out. But luckily, I’ve done this before. There are Amethysts, I can talk to them-”

Lars smiled. And then started laughing again.

“What’s funny?” asked Connie.

Steven frowned, confused. “Huh?!”

“Steven,” here he wiped away a tear of laughter before continuing, “You don’t have to worry about me, okay? Go, take Connie, go back to Beach City and just.. do you, okay? Go back to protecting the Earth. You can tell everyone I’m fine-”

“No, but, you’re not fine! You don’t understand - Lars! This place sucks!” Steven stood up and grabbed Lars’ shoulder. He started shaking it desperately. “It’s fake, and all the humans here are.. weird! This isn’t Earth! You of all people should know that! You don’t belong here!” He reached up towards Lars’ closest ear. “Here, gimme your ear-thing. Maybe I can use it to talk to the amethysts. They’ll remember me.”

Lars swiped Steven’s arm away as the kid made a grab for one of the Little Voice communicators dangling from his stretched earlobes. “Aah, no! Cut it out!”

Connie tapped Steven’s shoulder. “Uh, didn’t you say it was hard to get their attention last time?”

Steven paused to think, touching a finger to his chin. “Well - We’ll just need to get the humans all riled up about something. That’s easy!”

“Yeah! Don’t worry, Lars! Steven and I can rile up humans all day long!” Connie excitedly jumped up onto her feet, fist in air, as she spoke.

Lars waved his arms around, wincing, starting to get riled up himself. “No! No! Forget that! The humans are sleeping and -not- being annoying. I only get twelve what-I-think-are-hours of this per cycle. Just leave them to it. I told you, I only want to sit in peace. Those guys just fuck all of that up.”

Connie grit her teeth and covered her ears with her hands at the sudden swear. “Ah! My ears!”

“But- but Lars-” Steven began to tear up, not understanding what had become of his lanky friend or the Off Colors since he’d last seen them, back in the Homeworld cavern, in simpler times. Connie took his hand, attempting to comfort him.

“Stars above,” said Lars, rolling his eyes. “Why are you crying!? Look at me! Dude, I’m not brainwashed or whatever. I know the Zoo sucks!”

But his words weren’t helping, and he knew it. The sight of Steven standing there, upset and crying over him with Connie attempting to comfort the boy made him feel frustrated, but only at himself. He made a decision - despite himself, he was going to have to put some effort into making them both feel better so that this would all end.

“If you must know.. Uh, wipe all that snot away and.. well, it’s probably easier if I show you.”

Steven sniffed, drying his face on his shirt while Connie responded for him. “Show us what?”

Lars blinked in response and, when his eyes opened again, they were glowing white in the darkness.

This took the two kids by surprise, but not as much as what happened next.

He jumped suddenly up onto his feet, grabbing both the kids up in his arms as if they weighed very little. He took a step forward and hurled himself violently off the hill, straight into the empty air in front of them. The children both yelled in an excited confusion as all three of them fell straight into a bright pink and white glowing, swirling portal that Lars shouted into existence on the way down.

Not far away, some zoomans were sleeping in the grasses by the trees. Thousands of years of captivity had destroyed their survival instincts so much so that the sounds of arguing, yelling and the shout that had carried over from the nearby lake did nothing to disturb their sleep. They snoozed on, blissfully unaware as the glowing portal hanging in the air over the water blinked in and, seconds later, out of existence.

 

* * *

 

The three Earthlings exited into what Steven was surprised to see was the Quartz’s Quarters, the purple-hued walls lined with blocky kindergarten exit-hole shaped spaces, and Lars landed standing on his bare feet as though he was used to it.

“Woo!” cried Connie, balling her fists and raising them in front of her as the portal closed behind them. “I _portals!”_

__

__

“Oh my gosh! Laaaaars!” hyped Steven. “You can do pooortaaals!”

“Yeah, Steven. I know.” His eyes normal again, Lars grinned despite his mood - which, admittedly, was already beginning to improve.

Steven and Connie slid out of his arms, cautiously touching the ground, only barely able to believe what just happened. But they were forced to stop in their tracks, Connie reactively going for the handle of Rose’s sword in the scabbard attached to her back, when they noticed they weren’t alone.

“Way to stick the landing, Lars!” called a Jasper from a nearby cubby hole above them. “Who do you have there?”

“Hey, Skinny,” came Lars’ casual reply. “These guys came through my head from Earth! So you owe me a cool fifty for that.”

“The instant I come across some of your Earth ‘currency’, I’ll be sure to pay up.” She squinted at the two kids. “Hey, is that-”

Lars introduced everyone. “Steven I know you’ve already met, and this is Connie, also from Earth. This is Skinny. She’s a Jasper.”

Connie looked taken aback for a moment, but then smiled and waved up at her. “Great to meet you! Wow, you really are a skinny Jasper! Wait, oh,” she slapped a hand to her face. “I’m so sorry if that’s rude!”

Skinny jumped up, excited. “Oh, nice to meet you too, Connie! Not rude at all - I am, in fact, very skinny for a Jasper. Must be why Lars and I get along so well. Hey Steven! How is 8XM? Keepin’ keepin’ on?”

Steven was flabbergasted. “Skinny Jasper!? Hi! She’s.. great! I’m sorry, I’m just really confused. Lars, how-”

Lars smiled widely, arms akimbo as his eyes glowed white again. “You could say I’m pretty well connected now. YEARGH-”

Another portal appeared in the air above the ground front of them. Connie smiled and took a step towards it, but Lars stopped her and looked at her with his weird, glowing eyes.

“Ehh, it works better if you’re falling or jumping though it, like warping. There’s like, no ground to walk on.”

“Ohh, that’s why Lion always jumps us through on his back. Makes sense,” said Connie.

“Coming through!”

“No, wait-” Lars abruptly jumped out of the way as Skinny ran and took a running, leaping dive through it. He cringed. “Ooof.. that was.. too much.” He paused, then turned back to the kids. “Look, uh. I don’t want you guys to get hurt. I’ll just carry you again.”

After burdening himself with the two kids once more, he did a little jump though and landed neatly in a brightly-lit elaborately decorated hallway that Steven recognized, next to a crumpled-up Skinny, who had slammed straight into a very close wall. The portal closed as soon as they touched down.

“Oh, man. You really should check before just crashing though the portals,” he said sympathetically.

“Uggh, yeah, but they’re so.. fun!” She stood up, rubbing her head. “I’ll be fine. I’m a gem. It’s more the surprise than anything.”

Suddenly, a couple of amethyst guards stomped over from other parts of the hallway. They did not look pleased.

“The pink human is loose.. AGAIN!?” yelled one of the amethysts.

“This time he’s also let out some smaller ones!”

Lars gasped and recoiled as they approached.

“N-no, please! Don’t hurt me, I just-” he pleaded with them, fear in his voice.

“Begging won’t help you this time, meatbag,” said the other amethyst as she punched her palm with her opposite fist before raising it in a fighterly way, ready to strike.

Steven and Connie gasped and in the following instant, they were armed to the teeth - Connie having drawn Rose’s sword and holding it at the ready, Steven beside her with his shield raised.

“Hold it right there!” called Connie.

“Don’t hurt our friend you.. huge amethysts!” shouted Steven.

An awkward moment ensued. After a couple of motionless seconds, the amethyst, with her visionspheres glued to the kids, slowly and cautiously extended her fist towards Lars.

Lars, also with a cautious expression pointed at the two kids, reciprocated the fistbump equally as slowly.

They both then pulled back their fists, touchstumps extended, making sad little “pshhh!” noises as they did so.

The two kids needed a couple of seconds to understand what they’d just witnessed, but when it dawned on them, they lowered their weapons and relaxed quickly.

“Oh. It was just an exploding fistbump,” said Connie, sliding the sword back into its scabbard.

“They’re friends. Everything’s fine,” Steven added as his shield disappeared.

The douchebag amethyst shrugged. “It’s just my sense of humor. Nice sword and shield!”

“Oh!” said Steven. “Yeah! I remember you now! You both were guarding the door when me and my guys were here a few months back.”

“Ohhh yeah, that was us!” She laughed fondly. “We’re always guarding that crazy door.”

Steven laughed. “You sure got me! Threatening to throw me into space that time.. That was.. really funny!”

Connie and Lars exchanged glances, before Lars finally decided to properly introduce the newcomers to the newcomers. “Oh yeah, Steven, Connie, this is 8XY and 8XZ.”

8XY, the gem who hadn’t just fist-bumped Lars, smiled. “Yeah, how could we forget Steven? You know we still talk about that incident - nothing that interesting has ever happened before or since. And when Lars here told us he knew you, we were all so amazed. I still can’t believe Earth is so small that you’d just.. all know each other! And hello Connie!”

“Hi! Great to meet you both,” said Connie enthusiastically.

“How’s our little 8XM? Still on Earth?” asked 8XZ, glancing at Steven.

Steven smiled widely, pleased that they remembered him and Amethyst so fondly from their short visit. “Heck yeah! Amethyst is great. She still talks about you guys a lot! We even went to go visit your old kindergarten recently.”

“It.. still exists?” asked 8XZ with wonder in her voice. “Wow!”

8XY nodded, then caught sight of the nearby Jasper. “Oh, Skinny, what happened? You look terrible.”

“I took a portal too fast and smashed into the wall,” she laughed as she began trying to tidy her hair. “I’ll be fine! It’s nothing like the state Lars was in in when he was first dragged here.”

“Oh yeah,” chimed Lars. “That’s a funny story.”

“We had no idea how to properly set a broken human arm,” the amethysts laughed. “We still don’t!”

Connie and Steven grit their teeth. “Yeesh.”

“That sounds really painful,” said Connie. “Hey, Lars, my mom’s a doctor. When you’re back on Earth, maybe she can take a look at your arm.”

Steven cleared his throat.

“Also, Steven has healing powers! Which you.. already know about,” Connie added quietly.

“Thanks, but 8XY and 8XZ did a good job. It turned out fine - healed in like, three and a half cycles- er, days, I guess.” Lars flexed his scrawny pink right bicep, so proud. “You can hardly tell it was ever snapped.”

“What?!” said Connie in disbelief. “Three days?”

“What’s wrong with that? That’s pretty good, right?” asked Steven, who had never had a reason to become familiar with normal healing processes.

Connie widened her eyes at her friend. “Three days to heal a broken bone? And it's only been a couple of weeks at the most, and he's at a point where he can PICK UP CHILDREN?! That’s _impossible_ , Steven!”

“Oh,” Steven looked genuinely surprised.

“I think that’s more to do with him being pink and magic than us having any degree of medical skill,” said one of the amethysts modestly before turning back to Steven. “What’s 8XM been up to lately? Has she eaten anything interesting lately?”

Steven, deep in thought, touched his index finger to his chin. “Hmm.. I guess I could tell you.. Or, I could bring her over through Lars’ head sometime so she can tell you in person!”

8XZ smiled widely. “Yeah! That’ll be a blast. It’s great here now, no more metaphorically stepping on jagged rocks around Holly Blue. Ever since you Crystal Gems escaped with that big human, her power here has diminished significantly.”

“We only let her continue pretending she’s in charge so no one gets.. suspicious,” 8XY added. “Besides, it’s good to have her around. Dealing with the endless needs of our lustrous and generous Blue Diamond on the odd occasion she visits? That job is best left to her.” She chuckled.

“And that Aquamarine who brought Lars in?” 8XZ rolled her eyes and ran a hand through her hair. “Ugh, she made me feel so tired. And I never feel tired.”

Connie was curious. “Well, if Holly Blue is no longer in charge.. Why don’t you just disband? You could all come live on Earth!”

“Haha, stars, right!” smiled Skinny with a snort, folding her arms. “Can you imagine what Blue Diamond would do if we all just.. disappeared one cycle?! Yikes.”

8XY looked more serious. “It would end in disaster. Besides, who would look after the humans? Who would look after Holly?”

Connie frowned, “Well, the humans belong on Earth. You could bring them too.”

Lars shook his head. “The humans are too soft. And really, really dumb. The Earth would just be waaaay too much for them to figure out.”

Steven nodded sadly. “Yeah, I guess they are safe and happy here.”

“Not ruling it out long-term, though,” said Skinny Jasper. “Ideal universe, sure! I’m sure we’d all love to go back to Earth someday, I remember it was nice there. Even though we were all on the side of Homeworld during the rebellion, and were aghast and shaken when our glimmering Pink Diamond was shattered..”

Steven at this moment felt more than a little guilty and uncomfortable.

“..We’ve all had thousands of years of sitting around here, caring for these humans to think about how the Crystal Gems.. _may_ have had a point about wanting to protect it?”

“Of course they did,” said Connie. “If the rebellion never took place, my whole species would have been destroyed thousands of years ago! Not to mention billions of others, and the Earth itself - which is where you guys are from, too, if what Steven tells me is true. Wouldn’t that have made you guys at least a little sad?”

Skinny looked a little embarrassed. “Well, yeah, that’s what we’re saying..”

8XY jumped back in. “And then 8XM and the rest of you guys showed up Holly Blue, which was awesome!”

“Yeah. We’d never seen anything like it before,” Skinny smiled, raiding her fists excitedly. “Especially the fusion. I never expected that to ever happen. She was amazing!”

“And the Pearl? Speaking to an agate like _that_? Wow,” admired 8XZ. “Just, wow. You Crystal Gems are just.. wow.”

“Sounded awesome when they told me about what happened when you were last here,” said Lars, smiling naturally in what seemed to Steven to be a wholly uncharacteristic way, but it was nice to see, and it picked Steven right out of his momentary quandary.

“Yeah! Garnet, Amethyst and Pearl are the best!” enthused Steven in response.

8XY jumped in, “And Lars here has been telling us that there’s all kinds of great things on Earth now.. But, current situation.. more trouble than it’s worth.”

Purposeful footsteps echoed down the hallway, becoming louder as they approached.

Skinny made the ‘cut it out’ motion with her hand to her throat as she spoke quietly, “Oops, Holly Blue is comin’.”

Lars made a popping sound with his mouth which seemed to get louder as it rippled the air in the front of him, and the three gems and three humans all hopped through the resulting portal and instantly landed back in the quartzes’ Quarters.

“That portal was so quiet,” Steven observed. “Lars, how did you-”

“I’ve had lots of time to practice, man,” he shrugged, the white light leaving his eyes as the portal disappeared. Then he had a thought. “8XY, 8XZ - won’t Holly have a breakdown when she notices you two aren’t guarding the door?”

“Who cares? Our shift was over anyway. Thanks for the lift!” replied 8XZ. “Right now, I just have one task to do, then I’ll be stopping by the bridge.” She shrugged, “I’ll see what the word is, probably take over at the communications console from Jay, then some downtime.”

8XY folded her arms, “I’ll come too.” Her expression softened when she looked at Lars. “..I wanna say I think there’ll be something new, but there hasn’t been anything else interesting in cycles. Sorry to say it, but.. don’t get your hopes up.”

Lars frowned, but quickly found himself comforted by a soft clap on the back by 8XZ. “We’re lucky we’ve even got what little information we have, really,” she said.

Lars replied in a low voice, “Yeah, I know. I’m grateful. I really am.”

Connie and Steven both noticed this subtle exchange, and wondered what it all meant.

Skinny smiled as if trying to cheer him back up. “Why don’t you catch your friends up with what’s going on? I’ve gotta go feed a machine so that the humans can have their fruit in a couple of hours.”

Lars nodded. “Yeah, okay. I’ll find you guys after breakfast.”

All of a sudden, a line of up-tempo fistbumps occurred between Lars and the gems. Then, turning, the gems offered their fists to the two younger kids, both of whom enthusiastically reciprocated.


	3. The Flashback.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The kids get caught up as Lars puts a context around the stuff they've seen.

The pre-recorded chirping of long-dead crickets filled the ‘night’ as Lars led the two kids to a quiet part of the forest, the crescent moon (its only phase) still glowing from its stationary position high above. They entered a small, pretty clearing that was nicely illuminated by it.

“Uh, this will be fine,” he shrugged. “We’ll be out of the way of the humans when they wake.”

“Have _you_ had any sleep tonight?” asked Steven, suddenly concerned. “Is that why you were cranky earlier?”

Lars shrugged. “Kinda don’t need to sleep anymore, though I have briefly once or twice since I got here, I guess. And dude, you know me. I’m always cranky.”

“Not just now, with those amethysts and Skinny Jasper,” observed Connie.

“Yeah. I’ve never seen you get along that well with, uh, anyone!” said Steven.

“Well, yeah. But those guys are wicked. They’re the main reason I haven’t lost my fucking mind.” He hesitated, “..At least, since that one time I did.”

Connie and Steven both winced at the foul language this time. “Swearing!” chided Connie.

“Shit, sorry.”

“Not better,” said Connie.

Steven looked around and chose a soft-ish rock to sit down on. “So you.. just live in here with the humans and go hang out with the gems whenever you want?”

“Pretty much. I help out with stuff, too.”

Steven raised his hands high into the air, smiling. “How did that even happen, Lars!? You’re so painfully awkward to watch around people! No offense.”

Lars glared at the boy, hissing through his teeth. “Offense _taken_ , Steven.”

“So what happened to you to land you.. here?” asked Connie, dying to know some juicy details but trying not to sound too thirsty.

Lars just picked a spot in the grass to sit down on. “Well, I don’t.. uh, where do I start? My crew..”

“Crew!?” asked the kids, excitedly.

“Uh, yeah,” he scratched the back of his neck, “From pretty early on - we.. were a crew..”

Steven became pretty excited at that. “Gasp! A real spaceship crew! Were you the Captain!?”

The word spiked sharply into his heart. Lars couldn’t help but briefly let it show in his expression, but it was too late. The kids noticed.

“Sorry. I’ll be quiet.” Steven said.

Lars began. “Well.. anyway. _The_ crew figured out a way off that terrible planet. We stole a space shuttle, which we ended up crashlanding on a colony the next sector over.”

The kids looked horrified.

“Not our fault, though - the Twins saved us. So did Fluorite, really, although she ended up taking too much damage during the crash and poofed. She was okay though. And then we were rescued from the crash site by some rubies who took us back to civilization-”

Steven’s mind boggled. “GEM civilization?! So that’s how it happened. Lars - I’m so sorry!”

Lars stared blankly for a moment. “Uh, that’s not how it-” he waved his hands around, shaking his head. “No, no, don’t get hung up on that. It wasn’t over _that_ quickly. That part was fine. By that stage, we had a system going.”

He smiled softly as he continued to explain. “See, I had this sweet new outfit so I could pass for some kind of gem, since I’m pink now. And Fluorite would unfuse so the Twins could kinda hide in the crowd she created. Having a Pearl and a Ruby guard apparently means you’re some kind of a big deal.. And Padparadscha being a sapphire added an actual air of legitimacy to the whole con, I guess.”

He lost the smile gradually as he remembered each of them, then frowned.

“..And together we just.. looked like some kind of really diverse crew? We blended in anyway, pretended like we belonged there. And it worked.”

He noticed the two kids had been hanging on his every word, and shifted a little uncomfortably.

“So.. anyway, this time, everything started out okay, but then it all just.. fell apart and went super wrong. Most of us were separated, and it took all cycle but we eventually found each other and were almost in the clear to steal another ship to try again for Earth, but before we could do it, we were stopped.. by an agate who had figured us out, and her sub-ordinates.”

He could no longer look them in the eye as he spoke, instead he had his head turned to the side. The kids continued to watch him intently however, taking in every word.

“We.. tried retreating, tried for the Galaxy Warp to escape, but everything was fucked and.. I didn’t know I had actual friggin’ _powers_ yet, a-and..”

He paused to take a deep breath and the two kids watched, wide-eyed.

“And I keep kicking myself about it, because it’s all my fault.”

Subconsciously touching where his arm had been snapped weeks before, he nonetheless continued.

“When I came to, I was stuck in the same Topaz fusion, accompanied by the same Aquamarine we were all abducted by in the first place.”

The kids made distasteful faces. “I guess transporting ‘organics’ is their main job or something,” suggested Steven.

“Anyhoo.” Lars’ voice became more strained as he continued. “Their gemstones were all in a bubble, and Blue Diamond was there. She ordered for them all to be ‘re-purposed’. But, uh, she seemed to _like_ that I was pink, for whatever reason. I reminded her of.. something?” he shrugged, unable to answer their questioning looks and leaned back onto his arms as they propped him up.

“So instead of killing me or whatever, she had me taken here.”

 

* * *

 

Weeks previously, Lars had been lying alone somewhere off in the false woods just after ‘night’ had abruptly changed into ‘day’. He was doing nothing in particular - listening to recordings of birds that weren’t there, his expression vague, staring listlessly up at the ‘sky’. He hadn’t slept - he still had found no need to, and with all the worry plaguing him he wasn’t sure he could even if he tried. He raised his hands up to his face suddenly and after a few seconds was surprised to find that there was no pain.

Curiosity piqued, he slowly removed his arm from the sling and inspected where the break had been, moving it around experimentally. Again, he didn’t know why he was so surprised - it was obviously because he was pink that he had healed so fast, he reasoned. No way those amethysts had anything to do with it.

Maybe his efforts to open that pink door he’d found would go a little smoother today, he wondered to himself, surprised by his own optimism.

He discarded the sling and splint, and jumped slightly as the Little Voice chime sounded. It was the same line as the previous ‘morning’.

_“Greetings, everyone. It’s time to start the daily routine. Please enjoy your meal during this designated eating period.”_

He rolled his eyes and shut them, trying and failing to ignore the sudden hopelessness in his heart the Little Voice prompted. After a few more moments, the Little Voice sounded again.

_“You all must be hungry now.”_

Nope, thought Lars to himself as he watched one of the trees towering above him magically replenish with what he has assumed was highly nutritious, synthetic ‘fruit’ in a manner that was clearly designed to stimulate mankind’s ancient foraging instincts.

Instincts Lars just didn’t have the need for anymore.

But today, just to be different, he at length stood and reached up with his until-recently bad arm to pick one of the low-hanging fruits. He slowly took a bite out of it and chewed it a couple of times, but he found it quite tasteless and spat most of it out.

Nope. He was right - still not hungry. There were better-tasting things waiting for him on Earth anyway.

He lay back down in the grasses for a few minutes longer and even managed to close his eyes for a second, before he quickly became aware of the clumsy approach of some of his fellow humans.

They were running, racing, playing some game. He lay still, hoping they wouldn’t see him. But they saw him immediately, since he was bright pink these days, and one of them ran over to him.

“Ah-Lars!” cried one of them happily, reaching down to push him gently on the shoulder. “You are It!”

Lars glared up at the smiling adult man who had just tagged him. “Leave me alone, man,” he said. “Do I look like I wanna play this stupid game?!”

The smile disappeared from the man’s face in an instant, only to be replaced by some kind of stricken, devastated expression. “But.. Ah-Lars.. Just try it, it is Fun. When you are It, you Chase and make the Next one It!”

“I know how to play ‘tag’, man! No! And for the last time, it’s just ‘Lars’!”

The man began crying and ran off. Lars felt a pang of guilt, but his bad mood quickly overruled it and he peeled himself off the ground, deciding that was enough lying around, and stomped off in the direction of the door he’d found.

This perfect, peaceful utopia existed completely at odds with the mess in his head. It mocked him relentlessly at all times, and had done for several days now. And up ahead of him - the door. The one way out of this place that wasn’t underwater and impossible for him to get to. He quickened his pace as he saw it, and immediately began trying to open it. He had no idea what was on the other side of it, or what he’d even do if he did manage to open it, but he knew that it was the only thing standing in his way.

He spent a good chunk of the remainder of the morning attempting to pry it open. He ignored the Little Voice each time it sounded, prompting him to maybe go do something else instead.

Finally, physically exhausted, he leaned with his back against the door and slid down to sit against it, tears stinging his eyes, beginning to sob deeply. He had tried so hard but the thing was unmovable, and he was starting to feel like he was losing his mind.

‘Starting’ was perhaps not the correct word. ‘Continuing’ seemed far more accurate.

In the periphery of his vision, he noticed a human figure quickly duck behind a bush. He blinked in surprise, suddenly able to notice several other similar shapes that weren’t supposed to be there. He realized he was being watched from behind the nearby trees - by how many, he didn’t know.

He was suddenly very angry. None of these people had wanted to help him open the door when he’d first discovered it, muttering some cryptic nonsense about ‘hurt’ - and yet here they were, happy to just watch, as he just failed miserably. He wondering if they’d been watching him the day before, too - He wiped his tears away on the back of his bare arm angrily and before he knew it, he was screaming at them.

“GET THE HELL OUTTA HERE. GO _AWAY_.”

It was an impulsive, emotional outburst, borne of stress, worry and fear. Fear for himself, for his lost friends, for the home he’d been struggling to get back to up until recently, when he’d found himself stuck here. He had no way of noticing the way his eyes lit up glowing white seconds before it happened, or how to prevent the sudden concussive shockwave his outburst produced.

The very air in moved violently, radiating out in front of him. As it hit the trees, they shook - leaves rustled, branches broke - the shrubs closest to him were even ripped from the ground and blown back several yards.

In their shock, a small number of humans revealed themselves. Some had been bowled over by the waves, and those who were just outside of the field of effect looked terrified, and were watching him uncertainly, standing extremely still in a sudden overpowering fear. They had never witnessed anything like wind or quakes before and they all knew without a doubt that their odd new friend Ah-Lars had been the cause of this upset.

Lars, for his part, also looked shocked. Nothing like this had ever happened before. There was a ringing in his ears that was already fading. He breathed heavily, soon caught his breath and before he could say anything, or apologize, or whatever he was going to do - he hadn’t decided yet - the people who had been watching him all screamed and scattered.

Lars breathed hard, watching after them, These people were afraid of him, but he didn’t care about that. The other thing interested him more. He stood up, took a deep breath, and screamed once more. One of the battered trees actually snapped in half his time and fell back, crashing into the undergrowth.

“What the-” uttered Lars under his breath, unable to understand it. But deep down, he felt exhilaration; Smashing stuff while screaming actually felt really, really good. Who knew!

He screamed again as he began walking forward. More destruction. He could hear the sounds of humans freaking out throughout the forest - but, now in the midst of his own beautiful catharsis, he didn’t stand a chance of caring about that.

Suddenly, the door behind him opened wide. He spun around to see a bunch of amethysts rushing in.

Before he realized what what happening, he’d knocked the approaching battalion of amethysts back off their feet. In the silence that followed, he took off into the trees. Catharsis over. Fear once again ruled.

“GET UP!” said one of the amethysts in the back who hadn’t been caught in the blast. “You lot, calm the humans. You others - CATCH THAT PINK ONE!”

Lars soon found himself in hot pursuit by three or four gems who were quickly closing in on him. He’d found he had a bit more stamina now that he was pink, but he wasn’t sure how long he could outrun them for. He had an idea though, and as the lake came into view, he ran across the surface of it undeterred by silly mundane things like submergence.

The amethysts chasing him submerged normally, though, and found themselves slowed down significantly.

“Hey! What?!” One of them cried out.

“No fair! He made it seem shallow!”

“Hey! Pink human! Get back here!” shouted another one, leaping high up out of the water, making a grab at him.

Lars dodged and yelped again, with a wish on his mind to be somewhere else, and a different kind of wave happened. Standing in front of him, levitating about a yard above the surface of the water in front of him, was a glowing white disk with pink edges. Deeply confused at first, but with an inexplicable inkling that it was safe to enter, he decided a strange portal to wherever would be better than being caught.

An instant later, after a brief bathe in white light that reminded him of that of a warpstream, he tripped and fell on the floor of the docking bay. He glanced around and hurriedly stood up in a panic. There were amethyst guards baulking at his sudden appearance from the doorway, but one was already starting to run over to him.

“H-Hey! What in the stars!?”

“Aw shit!” He began to run, but there was nowhere to run, really. He tried to avoid bashing into the Roaming Eyes that were docked there, and the wall of the docking bay loomed larger and larger in his vision. He shut his eyes and yelled incoherently again. He wanted somewhere quiet. Somewhere safe.

Another portal, through which Lars blindly ran to find himself in an immense, pink, elaborately-decorated, furnished room. It was magnitudes more fancy than the officer’s accommodation he, Padparadscha and half of Rhodonite had conned their way into back on Upsilon IX briefly, but his heart still hurt thinking about those guys so he instead tried to focus on the now. Looking up, he noticed what at first glance looked to be magenta party balloons, but then he saw that they were gemstones. In bubbles. Like he’d seen Steven do to the gems of monsters on two separate occasions, back on Earth.

Was.. this a secret horde of gem monsters? He quickly decided that another portal was in order, and ran through it.

He soon found himself running down a hallway, with no idea where he actually was or where he wanted to go. He skidded to a stop, breathing heavily, leaning against a wall and glancing up and down the hallway cautiously.

Suddenly, it hit him - instead of portal-ing randomly through this horrible space station - could he make a portal to Earth!?

He took a final deep breath, fixating his mind on the beach, the sand, the water of his home. Shouting again, he leaped through the resulting portal only to crash straight into an Amethyst who was busy wrangling scared humans near that now-familiar lake. He staggered backward, falling to the ground, stunned to find himself merely back in the containment area.

As the humans that she’d managed to grab escaped to run free once again, the amethyst spun around and grabbed him by the back of his standard issue zooman tribal-style vest, lifting him off his feet effortlessly.

“Lars!” she cried as he squirmed and attempted to free himself, to no avail. “Hey! See! I caught the pink one!” She yelled over her shoulder.

Another Amethyst ran over. “What are you? Some kind of weird gem!?” She yelled.

The boy was furious. “Do you SEE a freakin’ gem anywhere on my body!?” Then, he suddenly recognized the faces and opposite-shoulder gem placements of both of them. “It- it’s you! You guys both set my broken arm! You should know I’m a human!”

She blinked. “Your arm is.. okay? It was supposed to take dozens of cycles to self-fix - it’s only been, what, three? Four?”

“What’s the big idea smashing up the place and scaring the other humans?!” demanded the other. “Don’t you know what a huge deal this all is!?”

And across the field he caught sight of other amethysts rushing around, trying to calm down and help the humans who were still upset and afraid - most of them were crying. A sobering moment passed, especially now that there were consequences, and Lars’ expression changed from pissy to devastated as he suddenly felt terrible.

“I-I.. I lost my shit,” he held his hands out in a regretful manner. “I’ve been so stressed out this whole time! I lost my friends.. I miss everyone I know on Earth, I-I can’t explain it. Aaah, I’m sorry. I.. I didn’t mean to wreck this place. I didn’t want to scare the humans.. I didn’t know I could do, uh, any of that. But it.. it felt good!” Tears sprung to his eyes. “It felt really good!”

The amethysts were incredibly confused by this rambling apology that didn’t actually sound like an apology at all. The one that wasn’t holding him spoke next.

“Look, look. Stop. I’m 8XZ. You remember when me and 8XY here fixed up your arm, and we were all razzing each other, havin’ fun? Now, we told everyone about you and we like you - we think you’re funny. But if you’re going to be causing real problems here, Holly Blue maaay insist that you be thrown out into space.”

Lars gulped, wide-eyed.

“..but luckily, she’s not really in charge here anymore.”

“Yeah,” started 8XY. “In general we like to keep it pretty chill, but even so, we can’t have this sort of thing continue. We are all still responsible for these humans and this facility, after all. Without going into too much detail, this place is the reason every gem you see here is considered still useful to the Perfect Empire. You’ve got our attention, so.. why don’t you tell us what’s going on.”

“Yeah,” said 8XZ. “Why in the stars was any of this necessary!?”

Lars wide eyes went a little teary. “Well, I-I-”

“Why don’t you start with-”

“I really wanna know why he’s pink, actually,” said a passing amethyst.

“Yup, the pink thing,” said a nearby jasper, holding onto a struggling human.

“Pink,” came 8XY’s vote.

“..why you’re pink.” finished 8XZ.

“Well,” he sniffed, “We - me and my friend - were on Homeworld, hiding, fighting robonoids. One exploded.. and.. uh, I died. Then, my friend who is half-gem half-human brought me back to life, a-and I came back pink. He didn’t know he could do that, so I guess neither of us know the ‘why’ of it all. Before all that, I was a normal human on Earth.”

Saying those last words caused him to feel a pain in his heart that he hadn’t really addressed before, but there had been neither the time nor the place for that. He glanced up at a small crowd of gems who were all staring blankly at him. 8XY shortly had another question. “Uhh. Okay. So, where is this friend of yours now?”

“He’s back on Earth.”

“What? How?”

“Why didn’t you go with him?” asked another.

Lars sighed and closed one eye, trying to get it straight in his head before explaining. “S-since I came back pink, I’ve had this portal in my head that leads back home. But I can’t pass through it myself, and I’m pretty sure only Steven can open it.”

8XY placed Lars back down onto his own feet in surprise. “Steven!?”

“Yeah, he’s the friend I mentioned.” He blinked. “Wait, what?! You people know Steven?” He was so surprised - but at the same time, had no idea why. Steven just seemed to know and be on good terms with everybody.

“Yeah! He was here, cycles and cycles ago. We met him, 8XM and their big human.”

“..A really short amethyst?” he made an educated guess since he was unfamiliar with the designation.

“That’s her!” beamed 8XY. “And some other Crystal Gems were here too!”

“Yeah! Remember when that cross-gem fusion took down Holly!?”

“That was greaaaat! You know, I thought about joining the Crystal Gems back during the height of the rebellion, but then.. everything happened so fast..”

“Yeah, me too! Wish I had now that it seems like they did okay and they’re still alive!”

More amethysts nodded and agreed, while Lars busied himself simply being awestruck by how fickle and weird his luck could be at any given moment. It was at this point that he was placed back down onto his own two feet. These amethysts were much more bulky than him and towered at least head and shoulders again above him, but now that they were all talking in this very relatable way, he felt less afraid of them.

“So, you guys know the Crystal Gems? They, like, live practically next door to where I work on Earth.”

“I wouldn’t say ‘know’, but we met them briefly.” 8XY smiled. “We’d all jump at the chance to meet them again. Except Holly.”

8XZ laughed. “Ever since they took their big human back and showed up Holly Blue, things have been great here. I can’t believe you were friends with them back on Earth! Wow. Life is crazy!”

He blushed a little, justifiably feeling undeserving of the second-hand admiration. “Well, I’m.. also just kinda a guy who knows them. Steven’s sort of my friend, though. And.. Amethyst steals food from where I work all the time - I get yelled at by the boss about it, but I can respect it. I got nothing against her.”

“Any friend of 8XM is a friend of ours!”

“How’d you even wind up in this neck of the cosmos?”

“Another long story..”

“It’s okay,” smiled 8XY. “We’ve got nothing but time here.”

 

* * *

 

The kids had listened to his whole story open-mouthed. Lars scratched the back of his neck as he wrapped up.

“When I realized I could trust them, I told them everything. I told them about the Off Colors and what we’d done. It was weird how much my story of stupidity and ultimate failure endeared me to them.. and I guess they’ve been letting me do my own thing ever since. They’re a really great bunch of gems. As long as I keep up appearances on the off chance a Diamond visits, don’t irritate Holly Blue, or piss off the humans again.. I’m cool. They turned off my stupid Little Voice things and excluded me from their weird circle thing, too, which honestly has done nothing but wonders for my sanity.” Lars suddenly looked very serious. “If I have little zoo babies at the age of eighteen.. my parents would never forgive me.” He frowned. “Or, maybe they’d be thrilled. Either way - I can’t have it.”

“You were right, I guess. You are doing okay, all things considered,” Steven said, without meaning for his surprise to be so obvious in his voice. “I really underestimated you, Lars..”

Lars narrowed his eyes. “But?”

“Hm?”

“There’s going to be a but.. right?” Lars asked apprehensively.

The smaller boy spread his hands out. “But, you could have asked them to help you this whole time?! You could have come back to Earth!”

Lars glanced upward, “Steven-”

“Why don’t you? Everyone misses you! And so much has changed in Beach City since you’ve been gone. Are you scared of what everyone will think? About what Sadie thinks-”

Lars looked away. “I can’t-”

Steven stood up and stomped a foot down, throwing his arms up in the air, exasperated. “That’s it, isn’t it. You’re still afraid! After all this time surviving in space, you’d rather sit here and do nothing and be a.. big.. sad sack!”

He was livid and Lars recoiled a little, not used to seeing this side of Steven at all. The younger kid continued.

“You’re still scared of what people will think of you! So you’re pink and magical now - who cares!? Everyone will understand! Amethyst is purple and magic and she gets along just fine! Lars! _I’m_ magic, and nobody cares! Everyone’s just gunna be glad you’re alive and back home where you belong!”

Fuck this, thought Lars, and he jumped up too.

“Steven! Just shut UP. I can’t think about any of that right now! You think I don’t know how close I am to getting to Earth?! Do you have any idea how much I’d rather be there right now? How much I miss my home, my parents, my friends.. Sadie?! How much I-”

He had tears in his eyes suddenly, but he blinked them back and took a breath. The next words out of his mouth were softer and less emotionally-charged.

“The amethysts offered me a trip home in a Roaming Eye weeks ago, and at first I was stoked and totally went for it. Then.. I asked them to turn back around.”

“Why?” asked Steven, mystified.

His question took Lars by surprise. The ultimate answer to this question was so obvious to him - why wasn’t it obvious to someone as heroic and good as Steven?

“Why!? WHY? Because - I can’t! Earth is on hold. I can’t go back there yet. And I won’t! Not without _them_!”

The air around them rumbled lightly at his last syllable. Lars, realizing he was allowing himself to get worked up again, took a breath and sat back down.

Steven covered his mouth, suddenly understanding that the Lars he had only just bumped into here was perhaps a little different from the Lars that he had known back on Earth.

“Lars-” said Connie.

Having calmed down a little, Lars spoke in lowered tones. “My dudes, Off Colors stick together. You’re right, I’m afraid. I’m terrified. But it’s okay. I got promises to keep. And I did ask for help; The gems here are helping me find where my crew’s gems are being kept. They’ve already got locations on a few of them.”

Connie blinked. “What?!”

“Lars, you’re not thinking of going after them, are you?” asked Steven.

“What else can I do, Steven?”

Steven waved his hands around. “No! You can still come to Earth. You don’t have to do this. Just.. just leave it to me and the Crystal Gems. We’re-”

Lars cocked an eyebrow at the kid, incredulous. “You’re, what? Going to take down the Great Diamond Authority, save the Earth and liberate every single gem and planet in the universe from their tyranny?”

But Steven looked straight back at him and responded completely in earnest. “Well, yeah. That’s kind of the general idea. Although, we are still kicking around the specifics at this stage..”

A silence fell upon them as Lars tightened his lips for a moment. When he did say something again, he had no hesitation.

“Guys, use me.”

“Huh?” Both the kids were taken by surprise.

“Wait, no. First, I need to preface this so you know how serious I am.” He took a breath. “Steven, you need to believe me when I tell you that I never ever wanted to get mixed up in your crazy life. Not like Connie does. But.. stuff happened, and I see things are way worse than I could have imagined when I was still a dumbass human, blissfully ignorant as the ones living here.” He looked the kid square in the eye. “But, I’m a gateway to gem-controlled space now, so.. If I can help the Crystal Gems while I’m stuck out here, I want to.”

Steven was rendered speechless by the offer. It took him a moment to collect himself. “But, Lars..”

“I mean, I obviously can’t speak on behalf of the gems here - as much as they seem to like me, I’m still just some meat-filled douchebag to them, but I’m here for you.”

Steven and Connie exchanged glances.

“Steven! Maybe if we can set up a meeting between them, the Famethyst could become Earth’s allies,” offered Connie as both the kids’ minds began to boggle with the possibilities.

“Lars,” Steven took a step towards him. “Are you sure? What happened to you is all my fault. You don’t have to do this. If there’s any lingering obligation between us, it’s me needing to help you get back home.”

The older kid rolled his eyes and held out his hands. “Steven. Stop blaming yourself for what happened to me.”

Steven smiled back up at Lars, tears forming at the edges of his eyes.

“I’ll.. try.”

They exchanged smiles.

“Listen, uh. You guys should go soon. The humans will be waking up shortly.. They won’t be able to grasp why ‘Ste-Van’ is back.”

“Yeah! We’ll tell everyone you’re still okay,” said Steven. “And we’ll see what the gems think about.. what we talked about.”

“Yeah, do that, and I’ll drop the idea on the amethysts, jaspers and Carnelian as well, you know, so they’re not completely blindsided if you guys go for it.”

“To be honest, we probably will,” said Steven.

“Quietly, I think the gems here will too.” Lars agreed.

“Oh!” said Connie. “Steven, we almost forgot.”

Steven brightened. “Oh yeah - we brought this package for you.”

“It’s from your parents,” Connie explained as she unshouldered her backpack and, kneeling, pulled out the box. She passed it to Lars. “Here you go!”

“Oh!” said Lars, surprised, accepting the box. Having already been sitting on the ground, he placed it on his knees to open it while the kids crowded around.

“Finally - clean jeans!” He looked so happy. “And my skull gauges.. I missed these.” He popped them into his stretched lobes, above the Little Voice earrings. “Too much?”

Connie giggled. “Maybe a little.”

He took the plugs back out and put them back in the box. “Maybe some other time when I don’t have to keep up appearances.” He pulled out a little soft toy bear and smiled at it. “They didn’t have to do all this.”

“What’s in that?” asked Steven, pointing at something wrapped in brown lunch paper inside the box.

Lars placed the bear down and opened it. “It’s cake slice!” He frowned. “Steven, you did tell my parents that I don’t need this stuff anymore, didn’t you? Please tell me they’re not worried I’m starving out here! Mom will have an aneurysm!”

Connie smirked. “Duh-doy! Of course he did. That’s why they just sent cake and nothing of actual nutritious value. Although I did pack a bunch of protein bars as well just in case.”

Steven smiled widely. “They just want you to treat yo’self, Lars. Besides, I have a feeling they don’t serve cake here in space.”

Lars gazed at it uncertainly.

“They don’t. But I, uh, had a bite of a piece of fruit a couple days ago that I’m still.. dealing with.. You guys want it? I’m super not hungry. I’ll waste it.”

He watched the two kids happily smash the piece of cake between them. It reminded him of one of his last moments on Earth, before he’d found himself terrified and stuck in a Topaz fusion. The moment it brought to mind was when Steven and Sadie had dealt to the first ube roll they’d all made together in a very similar way. It seemed like yesterday and yet centuries ago but all at once, for a brief moment, he felt like he was back there.

“Hey, ah.. so, how is Sadie?” he asked suddenly, curious and yet a little afraid of what the answer might be. For the whole time he’d been in space, she had neither been far from his thoughts, nor the focus of them for fear of becoming inconsolably homesick and, more recently, of abandoning his mission.

“Oh!” Steven smiled. “She really, really misses you. It’s been so hard for her, too - she had to quit her job at the Big Donut because they wouldn’t even hire a replacement for you. Can you believe that? She had to work both your shifts all the while missing and worrying about you! She was so miserable.”

Lars rolled his head and his eyeballs back dramatically. “Jeeeeeze, those guys suck. Poor Sadie. I’m..” He took a deep breath as he stared up at the false crescent moon. “I’m glad she quit that dead-end job. She’s too good for that place, anyway.”

“Yeah, I mean, I’m sad that the Big Donut is closed for now, but it’s really done wonders for her. She’s like a whole new person now.” said Steven. He batted at Lars’ arm gently. “Just like you!”

He hesitated briefly. “So.. what’s she doing now?”

The kids exchanged glances before Connie shrugged at Steven. “I think he can handle it, don’t you?

Lars looked nervously at them. “Handle what?”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> My buffer increased, and I couldn’t wait to post this chapter either. I'm bad at being mysterious..
> 
> I thought Steven could have broken the news about Sadie with a bit more tact in LotS.
> 
> Some events described in this chapter take place in my other fic about the Off Color's journey but I've tried to write this in such a way that it's not 100% necessary to read it - unless you want to, of course! :D
> 
> Leave a comment if you want to let me know what you think so far - esp if there's anything I can be doing better.


	4. The Unpredictable.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Destruction at the Zoo.

Guarding the door was a boring job. The only real excitement was when a new exhibit turned up and, barring the three of those that had occurred in recent times (and the one super-exciting time during which the first two escaped), there had been nothing of the sort in the thousands of years since the height of the rebellion on Earth. The only things they really had to look forward to were the more mundane aspects of running a zoo in a space station - deliveries of organic matter for feeding, clothing and sundry, as well as that of stored energy from productive supplying colonies.

“..And occasionally, say every _once ever_ or so, we get visits from rebel gems. Which are always pretty exciting!” said 8XZ, punching a fist into the air to emphasize her point.

“You told me already,” said Lars, who had offered to help out alongside 8XZ and 8XY during their shift this cycle.

“So yeah, other than that, we mostly roughhouse,” replied 8XY, going back to the original point of their conversation. “But we kinda got all of that out of our systems not long after Holly Blue was de-throned. Now it’s just.. business as usual.”

“Man, I can’t imagine doing the same thing over and over for thousands of years. And not even breaking it all up with sleep? It sounds painful.”

8XZ shrugged. “I sleep sometimes. But, meh - humans must just be wired differently. You guys have meat-based bodies that die after about eighty years or so, right? I guess you just have the proclivity to want to cram more exciting experiences into such a short span of time. Buuut.. that doesn’t really help explain why you spend about half that time asleep.”

“We don’t really think like that,” said 8XY. “I mean, sure, gems get bored, but it’s fine, you know? It happens. Humans get bored and they just start going crazy. It must be because on some level they know they’re going to die within the century. That’s why we try to make sure our humans have plenty to do, lots of forest and grassland to roam in, and are well looked after.”

“Maybe,” said Lars, becoming slightly anxious at all this talk of mortality and the human condition for a reason he couldn’t quite put a finger on.

“But, if you were to ask us what we’re looking forward to - what I can’t wait for, right now, is to meet the rest of the Crystal Gems,” smiled 8XZ, suddenly pumped. “Like, really meet them, you know? Not just in passing.”

He turned his head to look at them. “Have you as a group decided what you’ll do? Do you think you’ll be able to help them with the ‘saving Earth’ stuff somehow?”

“I don’t really know how we can, apart from keeping our listeners and visionspheres open,” shrugged 8XY. “Maybe we could help run the odd mission? The Empire is immense, Lars. But at any rate, we’re all ex-soldiers at our core. And we have all these ships.” She motioned at the handful of Roaming Eyes docked there in front of them.

“I’m sure smarter quartzes than us will have better ideas,” 8XZ laughed. “Whoever heard of a bunch of ragtag zoo staffers from Earth staging a brand new rebellion, though?”

Lars shrugged. “The way I hear it, the old Earth rebellion featured a bunch of ragtags from Earth..”

“Oh, no no no,” said 8XY, waving a hand around. “The Crystal Gems back were highly organized. There were so many of them, and they had a brilliant strategist in Rose Quartz and her half-sapphire permafusion advisor. Every move Pink Diamond made, it was almost like Rose was five steps ahead.”

8XZ nodded. “Although all the Earth-made gems you see here never joined them, a lot of us could respect her strategies. I can barely believe the Crystal Gems are even still around!”

Lars raised an eyebrow. “Huh.. well, I don’t think there’s that many of them anymore, but they’re still pretty cool. I just can’t believe all it took to turn you guys traitor was the Crystal Gems laying a smackdown on your boss a couple months back.”

The amethysts laughed.

“Noooo. Not every gem blindly follows the Perfect Order of the Great Diamond Authority,” said 8XZ, frowning a little. “We’re only here because for a long time there was nothing else for us. If Blue Diamond hadn’t wanted to keep this facility as a monument to Pink’s memory, we’d all have been poofed and bubbled along with all those rose quartz gemstones you saw in the Pink Diamond’s Chamber. Or worse.” She sighed, “We keep our gemstones sparkling and serve Homeworld running this place because there’s no alternative. But, knowing that your masters can tire of you and shatter you at any moment.. it can wear you down after a couple of millenia, you know.”

“So.. what you’re saying is, you’re bored and you want to go crazy,” surmised Lars.

8XZ narrowed her visionspheres, considering this idea. “Hmm. Yes.”

“We didn’t even know the Earth was still a thing until we met 8XM and she told us all about it!” exclaimed 8XY. “Hey, you’re from Earth - If it wasn’t destroyed like everyone ‘knows’ it was, what actually happened there?”

Lars shrugged. “Man, that stuff happened thousands of years before I was born. Humans just don’t know about things from back then anymore. I’d have thought you guys would know more about it than me.”

For a moment, 8XY looked as though she was about to say something. She stopped, however, to gasp at Lars.

“What’s up? You’re lookin’ at me like I have two heads-”

Suddenly, Steven’s upside-down face filled his view. He jolted, violently.

“STEVEN!”

“Hey Lars!”

The sudden weight of the kid forward-flipping from his head initially put him off balance, and the addition of Connie as well did wonders to help gravity triumph over the situation - Steven and Lars ended up falling onto the floor, while Connie managed to land gracefully in a crouching position.

“Oo, way to land!” said 8XZ.

“Thank you,” said Connie, standing. “I’ve been practicing.”

Steven jumped back up immediately and smiled up at the two amethysts. “We’re back! Hi Wy! Hi Zee!”

“Hi Steven and Connie!” “Hey again!” came the response from the gems as they laughed at the antics of the two young humans.

Connie smiled. “Whatchya doing? Guarding the door?”

“You know it,” said 8XY.

Lars sat up, groaning, rubbing his head. “I’m gunna need you to do that more gently next time, dude. Maybe after a bit of warning. When I’m sitting.”

Steven held his arms out towards him. “In that case, don’t get up just yet. I’ve got the rest of the Crystal Gems waiting in the pink dimension to come over.”

“In the wha- Oh, yeah. That world with the trees or whatever inside my head,” he frowned.

“Yeah! You remembered!” Steven beamed. “I don’t think it’s literally -inside- your head. But, connected? Sure.”

“I know you can’t breathe in there, but can you.. try to get them to shapeshift really small?” asked Lars with a fear in his eyes.

“Peridot can’t shapeshift, but I’ll try my best.” He paused a little. “Are you ready?”

“Who the heck is Peridot?” but then Lars sighed. “Just do it quickly.”

His hair lit up as Steven threw himself back through. Lars glanced up at the amethysts who were just looking on and chuckling in high amusement.

“So,” said Connie as they waited. “How’ve you been?”

He had no time to reply, quickly having to brace himself as he felt them starting to come through. A series of extremely uncomfortable events later, on the floor in front of them stood two Stevens, a purplish-white longhair cat, a bewildered-looking little green gem Lars didn’t recognize and a regular old Pearl. But Lars’ eyes came straight back to the two Stevens.

“There’s MORE of you!?”

The darker-colored Steven turned to look at Lars. Glowing white, Garnet turned back into herself after a moment, expression impassive. Lars’ jaw dropped.

“Pearl! I wanted you all to get smaller,” said Steven in a loud whisper.

“THAT’S what all those strange hand gestures meant?” asked Pearl, surprised.

“I didn’t understand those at all,” muttered Peridot.

The cat sat down and raised a paw. “Hey Donut Boy! Thanks for the ride!”

“Hi, talking cat,” nodded Lars as he picked himself up off of the floor.

Amethyst’s gem glowed and she shapeshifted back to her usual self and smiled. “Jokes. It’s just me - Amethyst! Love the new look - very pink!” She nodded in approval.

“8XM!” cried the two other amethysts, running over to pick her up and hug her. She started laughing too as she hugged back.

“Hi guys! Haha! I missed all of you! I can’t wait to see everyone again!”

Steven smiled up as the familial reunion took place. Lars stood next to him all deadpan, “There’s a bit of a resemblance, I guess?”

“I can’t believe you guys are back,” exclaimed 8XY. “We never thought we’d get the chance to see you again!”

Steven stepped forward to tie up the loose ends. “Amethysts, this is Pearl and Garnet. You didn’t really get a chance to meet properly last time. And this is Peridot!”

“Greetings, Zookeepers,” nodded Peridot, and then she took in Lars. “..What kind of gem are you?”

“That’s Lars. I told you about him, remember?” prompted Steven. “He’s a human but he’s like Lion now.”

“Oh. The _gemlike_ ,” muttered Peridot, touchstumps stroking her chin as she considered him. Lars rubbed the back of his neck nervously and glanced away.

Steven turned back to the Amethysts. “Guys, Garnet is-”

Garnet greeted everyone belatedly. Stiffly. “Greetings, amethysts.” She turned to Lars, seeming to be plagued by hesitancy. “Hello there.. young.. donut child.”

“Hey!” Lars smiled, blushing a little at the intensity of her gaze.

Steven grabbed up at her leg, a little concerned. “Garnet? I know you’ve met Lars before..”

He tried his best to smooth it over. “Yeah, I’m the idiot at the Big Donut? I spilled that entire pot of hot coffee on you one time? Sorry again about that,” he quickly added.

She suddenly walked up and stiffly grabbed him by the sides of his torso, trapping his arms in the process and lifting him high up off his feet.

“Uh, hey?!” Lars squirmed. “What gives?”

Steven gazed up, incredibly concerned by this sudden behavior. “Garnet? What’s wrong!?”

Holding him up well in front of her, Garnet spoke. “There’s been a.. change of plan.”

“Wha-WHAT?!” cried Pearl.

“You are coming straight home, young male human.”

“What’s happening?” asked Peridot, glancing at Connie, who shrugged.

“Steven!” Lars yelled, tense. “I’ve completely had it with aliens abducting me!”

“Wait, WHAT?” Amethyst ran over from her reunion with the other amethysts to try to stop her. “Garnet! Aren’t we here on a mission? A _diplomatic_ mission?!”

“We need to borrow a ship,” said Garnet, undeterred. “We will find another way.”

“Wait,” called 8XY, nervously. “But, the only reason an alliance between The Zoo and Earth can even work is if Lars stays here.. He’s our half of the conduit, right?!” She glanced at 8XZ, confused. “Or am I missing something?”

“A _ship_ ,” repeated Garnet in a meaningful way.

“Aah, s-sure,” said 8XZ, as she backed down, completely confused but still wanting to help. “Right this.. way?”

“Garnet,” said Pearl, timidly. “I hope- er, assume that you know what you’re doing? This seems like too big an opportunity for us to just-”

“We will find another way,” Garnet repeated, glaring down at her through her shades and she walked towards the ship.

Incredibly confused, 8XZ opened up a Roaming Eye for them. “Here you go, but I mean, I don’t understand this at all.” She attempted a lost smile. “Why don’t you stay? We can all talk about this-”

Amethyst looked over at Garnet, who had already carried the guy inside the Eye. She had been followed closely by Connie, Peridot and Pearl, all of whom were imploring with Garnet, trying to get her to listen to reason.

“This is a highly irregular way-”

“Garnet, please, what’s the matter-”

“Are you sure about this, it seems-”

Amethyst looked back up at the taller amethyst with pure confusion plastered on her features. “I’m.. I’m sorry, Garnet seems to have made up her mind?”

“We’ll try to talk to her,” offered Steven, sounding panicked. “Don’t give up on us! We’ll be back, I promise!”

 

* * *

 

Garnet stood awkwardly in the middle of the Roaming Eye’s bridge as the door closed behind them.

“All I’m saying is, this is a completely unorthodox manner of engaging in peace talks,” came Peridot’s input.

“Peridot. Take us to Earth,” said Garnet, stiffly, still gripping the squirming teenager. Peridot looked to Pearl, alarmed.

“I-I..” floundered Pearl. “Garnet, I assume this is all because of a premonition critical to the mission, but you can’t keep us in the dark like this!”

“NOW,” ordered Garnet, several beads of sweat forming on her cheek.

Cowed, Peridot went over to sit in the pilot’s chair and began to interface with the console. Shortly, the Roaming Eye was leaving the docking bay.

Pearl stood awkwardly, looking absolutely torn, as Amethyst gestured at her, asking for help.

“T-to be fair, Amethyst,” began Pearl, “We don’t really even know them. It could all be a trap set by Homeworld..”

Amethyst whipped her head at Pearl. “It’s NOT a trap, Pearl! They’re just like me! They’re my.. sisters, I guess! Sisters don’t DO that!”

"Well, Jasper-" started Pearl.

"NOT HELPING."

Meanwhile, Steven and Connie grabbed one of Lars’ legs each and started trying to pull him free.

“Not helping, guys! Aagh!”

They both quickly let go and Steven jumped up to grab onto one of Garnet’s arms. “Garnet, please, let him go! We had a plan, didn’t we? They helped us once before! We can talk about this!”

“Yeah, Garnet!” Amethyst was beginning to get angry. “We gotta go back! We gotta let him go! There’s no.. trap! We’re so lucky that they want to team up with us. We have like, no friends at all besides them, and that’s only because I’m one of them! And now.. Donut Boy is too, somehow!”

Lars glanced at the viewport in the middle of attempting to worm free. He gasped as it became apparent that they were already in the void of space. A splitscreen in the lower right of the viewport showed that they were still close to the space station, but slowly getting further away. He had a feeling that as soon as the ship jumped into hyperspeed, he’d be well and truly on his way to Earth - a prospect he was ultimately all for, but for the sake of having a chance at finding his crew again, firmly against.

“GARNET! STOP!” Amethyst, emotional now, pulled back a fist with designs on punching her. As a premeditative measure, the fusion suddenly dropped Lars as she turned to catch Amethyst’s fist before it could connect with her. Amethyst glared up at her defiantly, while Garnet’s expression was cool and calm and, as always, concealed behind her shades.

“You need to settle down before you do something you’ll regret,” the fusion said with a scary calm to her voice.

“Garnet, Amethyst, stop this-” but Steven’s quivering voice of reason was cut off.

“ME do something I’ll regret!?” yelled Amethyst, brushing Garnet’s hand off her own. Peridot halted preparations to switch to hyperspeed and instead turned to watch the confrontation with the rest of them. Connie’s eyes were also glued to the argument.

“What about YOU!?” Amethyst continued. “You haven’t even told us WHY we’re reneging on the Famethyst mission when this is something we all agreed to do, together! Last I checked, we were a TEAM, right!? Everyone here right now AGREED that it was a good idea! Greg agreed, and Nanefua thought it was a good idea, and so did everyone who attended that town meeting we held! I don’t understand. We have this link to space now, and you’re just cutting it off? Why is this happening, Garnet? WHY?!”

Another shout, from the other side of the bridge this time. Everyone glanced towards it only to see the final half-second of a portal’s existence.

Steven pulled at his hair, incredibly stressed out. “Uhh, guys? Lars is gone!”

 

* * *

 

The Roaming Eye re-entered the docking bay. The amethyst guards looked visibly relieved as they watched it dock. They ran up as Steven and Amethyst exited the ship.

8XZ smiled, placing a hand on her chest. “Thank the stars you came back!”

“What was the problem?” asked 8XY, curious.

“There’s still a huge problem,” explained Amethyst. “Donut Boy vanished!”

“Come again?”

“Lars got away from Garnet and escaped through a portal,” translated Steven. “I’m assuming he came back here?! We gotta make sure he’s okay before Garnet finds him! Have you seen him?”

“Nope, we haven’t seen any of his portals,” shrugged 8XY.

“If he’s anywhere, he’s probably.. at his favorite spot on the hill in the containment area?” mused 8XZ.

In an instant, Garnet flew past them and up the stairs through the door. She stopped briefly to hold a hand out to the panel and released a burst of electricity that shorted the door’s circuits.

“Wait- Gaaaarnet!” cried Pearl from the ship’s entrance as the doors slid shut behind the fusion.

8XY and 8XZ ran over to the door, kicking it a few times as soon as they found the control panel entirely useless. As it quickly proved difficult to budge, 8XZ turned back to the remaining Crystal Gems.

“You guys always make things so interesting!” she smiled.

Steven, Amethyst and Connie chuckled awkwardly in response. Pearl looked on, devastated, while Peridot just stood off to the side and glared uselessly - all this hassle was cutting into her improv practice.

 

* * *

 

Lars was frantic. The only thought he had was to go back to his favorite spot on the hill in the containment area, and there he was, pacing, unable to figure out what had gone wrong this time. Why was the leader of the Crystal Gems so insistent on dragging him back to Earth? Was it about the coffee thing?! He cursed himself for bringing it up. Below the hill, on the shores of the lake, the humans were just getting along, playing and eating, trying to ignore him.

From the other side of the forest, there was a sound of shorting circuitry. Lars was on high alert all of a sudden and shortly his suspicion was confirmed when he saw her.

Garnet, expressionless still, emerged walking from the nearby treeline and slowly approached the lake. Lars was glad to see that the zoomans were at least smart enough to scatter immediately.

“Donut Lars! Come down!” she called as she sighted him, fists balled at her sides. “Don’t make me come get you.”

“N-no!” came his terrified response. He instinctively found himself getting ready to - what? Serve a concussive blast to one of Steven’s superpowered surrogate moms?! What a ridiculous concept. Or, throw down a portal and escape to - where?! All he had available to escape to was this singular space station. His freedom of choice out here in space was fairly limited and he’d found that the longer-than-usual distance he’d traveled from the Roaming Eye to get back here was tiring enough.

Garnet saw the pink boy’s eyes start to glow white, obviously in defense against her, and her impassive expression cracked enough for her to frown. That was all it took for the rest of the bonds holding her together to unravel, and she came apart.

“Go then!” Sapphire shouted as their light faded. She pushed Ruby away and swiping back her bangs she glared up at Lars, who was staring down at them open-mouthed now, the glowing light leaving his eyes. “I’ll just.. get him myself!”

She hitched up her dresses as she stepped into the water of the lake, preparing to jump.

Up above, Lars was in crisis. “Ruby? Pad.. Padparadscha..?” he choked, dropping to his knees, staring down at them, psychologically unprepared to process the striking features of these two gems he’d never met before.

Sapphire was taken aback by his reaction. “What?”

“Sapphire,” said Ruby simply from a couple of steps behind her. “We.. we can’t do this!”

Sapphire spun angrily around on her. “Ruby! This CHILD has no idea what he’s doing out here! He’s Steven’s friend, and we let him and everyone else down when we- when _I_ failed to see what was coming!”

Ruby stood on the shore with her arms akimbo, glaring at Sapphire with an eyebrow raised. “Oh please, you act like the future vision thing is all on you, all the time! But when we’re Garnet, I’m part of it too! You know this!” she raised her hands up into the air as she continued. “And you know as well as I do that the future isn’t fixed!”

Lars watched, hunched over, as Sapphire stepped away from Ruby. She held a hand up to her face, a little distraught. Ruby stepped up behind her again and placed a hand gently on her shoulder.

“Come on,” said Ruby softly, “Tell me. What do you see, right now, without me?”

“I.. I don’t know. I can’t see anything.” She hunched forward as she stood in the shallows, head grasped in her hands. “It’s all so wrong. This timeline is.. wrong. I’m.. confused.” A tear fell from her visionsphere. “I have no idea what any of this could possibly mean.” She raised a hand to indicate Lars, “And seeing one of Steven’s best friends stuck here in space, away from his home, and so profoundly changed.. only reminded me of how much I’ve failed!”  
“Yeah, but.. it happened. And maybe it was always gonna happen, no matter what we did, Sapphire-”

Sapphire snapped. “How are we supposed to know what can possibly happen from here? We never saw any of this coming. If Homeworld can just decide to kidnap a bunch of humans.. if our Steven can just _give himself up_.. only to come straight back through Lion’s mane..” She held out a hand to indicate Lars, who was still on his knees, watching from his spot on the hill. “If this random friend of his can one day just decide to be something other than irresponsible and lazy.. It means that everything we thought we knew - all those different streams we saw - all of it is over and none of it matters anymore. Everything we thought we knew is.. erased. Disconnected. As if it never was to begin with.”

“But that’s okay-” Ruby began.

Sapphire lowered her voice. “All I see now is us. Careening. Cascading down the rapids toward the end of everything on an unknowable, unstoppable river. Completely.. Utterly.. Blind.”

She dropped to her knees in the water and around her, it began to turn to ice. A silence passed between her and Ruby, punctuated by false birdsong.

“Meanwhile,” she sniffed, “The entire Earth still depends on us. On Garnet. To find a better future for it.” She lowered her voice, “the one thing that _never_ changes.”

Ruby ran into the water, breaking the ice as she did, to hold her. “Sapphire! It’s.. it’s not that bad. Listen to yourself. The way I see it, we’re talking about robbing the donut kid - I mean Lars here, of his own agency by dragging him back against his will. To what end? Even if we COULD force this guy to be his old predictable self again, that won’t suddenly fix everything else that is horribly wrong now.”

She saw Sapphire’s panicked expression, suddenly regretting her last words there, and smiled meekly.

“Look, uh, poor choice of words.. I just mean, if we do that, it’ll make us no better than the Diamonds. The Diamonds are the ones who abduct humans, who force everyone into a stupid Order - not us! Yeah sure, this future we’ve landed in is strange and complicated, but.. I’m right here, with you.”

She smiled softly at her weeping Sapphire, brushing her bangs from her face and gazing into her eye. Sapphire gazed back silently through her tears. Ruby held her and continued.

“Let’s spend some time here in this present. We can explore it! We can figure out how this new stream works. We’ll eventually understand what to expect. I think, our first step should be just.. talking to the gems here. We need to apologize for wrecking their doors and scaring their humans.. And we should apologize to Lars, of course. As well as Amethyst. She was so angry at us.. And Pearl, Peridot, Connie and Steven..” Ruby suddenly frowned.

“That’s.. a lot of apologies,” said Sapphire, putting an arm around Ruby, feeling terrible.

“It sure is,” replied Ruby, smiling again and hugging gently anyway. “Lars, you can come down now. It’s okay,” she called.

Lars climbed down the hill carefully and walked gingerly over the water’s surface to them. He soon sat cross-legged at a respectful distance. The three of them held a quiet conversation.

“Y-you’re really okay with it?” He asked softly.

“..Yes,” replied Sapphire with a nod. “If you are sure this is what you need to do.”

“No doubt I miss home, but,” he paused, “I have to stay. I can explain why-”

Ruby lowered her eyes. “Steven told us about the Off Colors. We were, uh, looking forward..”

There were unsaid words on Ruby’s tongue, and Lars shortly realized why. His voice broke a little but he said, “Did you..”

“Yes,” replied Ruby, glum. “Briefly, we saw a potential future where you would have been this brave ship’s captain. You were on your way to Earth. And.. your crew..” she trailed off, unsure of the right words.

“You were all so amazing.” Sapphire finished, simply.

Lars exhaled slowly, sadly, sinking at his shoulders. “Yeah..” He spoke again after a pause. “Well, will Garnet be okay?”

“Of course she will,” said Sapphire. “She has to be.”

“Laaaaars!” came Steven’s cry, echoing into the containment area. “Garnet!!!”

The three of them glanced in the direction of the door. Sapphire and Ruby’s bodies turned into a swirling white light and suddenly, in the water where the two of them had been sitting together, there stood Garnet, the water coming up to roughly mid-shin height on her. She looked at Lars softly with her three eyes, before jamming her shades back on and offering a hand to help him to his feet.

“Ah, okay..” he was a little nervous as he accepted the intimidating fusion’s help and at that moment, considering Lars’ inability to submerge, they stood roughly eye-level to each other.

“Donut Lars. I want to keep this whole thing between us.”

“Oh, sure..”

“And I apologize for alien abducting you.”

“Thanks, Garnet,” he smiled.

“I hope your offer still stands.”

He nodded. “Of course. It’s for Earth.”

Suddenly, Steven ran up, followed by Pearl, Amethyst, Connie, Peridot, 8XY and 8XZ.

“Garnet!” Implored Steven. “Please, don’t fight him! I really think it will be okay that he’s here. He’s got friends - he even has cool powers now, like Lion! He doesn’t want to come home just yet, not until the Off Colors can too, and in the meantime he wants to help us!”

“It’s okay, Steven,” said Garnet with a smile. “Lars and I talked it out. He’s convinced me. He stays for as long as he wants to.” She clapped Lars lightly on the back. It was still enough to make him lose balance briefly.

“You ‘talked it out’? Just like that? With the sullen teen from the donut store?” Amethyst was so, so confused. “Was there some big emotional speech? Can someone give me a blow-by-blow?!”

“That’s great news!” exclaimed Pearl, clasping her hands together. “The mission is back on!”

“Ahem,” prompted Steven, whispering loudly at Pearl who looked down at him, alarmed. “Offer to fix the broken stuff..!”

“Oh. Oh! Of course.” Pearl turned to address the amethysts with a smile. “As a measure of good faith, we are more than happy to volunteer the services of our wonderful technician, Peridot, who can restore to you the use of both the doors Garnet.. broke.”

“What, me?!” exclaimed Peridot, with a face.

8XY and 8XZ nodded at each other before turning back to the Crystal Gems. “That sounds pretty good, actually,” said 8XZ. “We usually have a tech come out periodically from Homeworld every century or so to fix broken stuff.”

“She’s always such a hassle,” complained 8XY. “Homeworld gems are so hoity toity.”

“Great! Wonderful!” Pearl laughed, clearly trying to overcompensate as the amethysts smiled awkwardly.

Suddenly, the sound of approaching gravity connector steps in the nearby forest’s undergrowth, and Skinny Jasper and Carnelian were soon to emerge from beyond the tree line. Everyone standing at the shore of the lake turned to see them.

Amethyst was ecstatic. “Skinny! Carnelian!”

“8XM! Aaaah!” Carnelian, ecstatic, ran up for a rough hug. Skinny, however, retained a sense of dignity as she greeted the visitors, hands clasped in front of her.

“Hey, 8XM! Hey everyone! We’d like you let you know that we’ve picked who gets to distract Holly for the rest of the cycle, and we’re about to block off the entrance to this containment area while the door is broken so the humans are safe from, er, the rest of the facility,” announced Skinny in a very official manner. “So, if you still want to do some diplomacy, we are offering to hold our first summit meeting in the Quartz’s Quarters shortly.”

“I’m so EXCITED,” enthused Carnelian, pumping her fists in excitement.

“Shh,” Skinny hissed at her as they walked off. “We’ve got to play this cool, remember? If it’s exciting, it’s not ‘diplomacy’.”

Pearl exhaled heavily, looking down to see Amethyst smiling up at her. “This might.. actually go well after all!”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Lucky the CGs have a massive fanclub out in space.
> 
> Probs my favorite chapter so far. I’ve been impatient about updating these chapters, but I’ve been desperate to publish this one ever since Chapter 1 went up. Ruby and Sapphire <3


	5. The Summit.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The Crystal Gems and the Zoo Gems sit down to clear the air about Certain Topics before doing the Thing.

The Quarters was thronging with activity as Amethysts, Jaspers and the single Carnelian lined their cubbies, sitting and hanging out casually along the walls as the Crystal Gems entered. They were flanked by 8XY, 8XZ and Lars. An excited hubbub filled the air as the doors slid shut behind them.

Pearl started to fuss quietly at Garnet. “Now Garnet, I don’t think you should speak after.. well, what happened. Leave it to me. I’ll smooth things over-”

“Ahem,” said Skinny loudly, standing at the entrance of what could easily be presumed to be her own cubby hole in the middle center of the far wall. Turned out her voice could carry. “I am Jasper Facet-9 Cabochon-6TL, better known as Skinny. To all in attendance of the first Summit for Earth - Greetings. Despite the liberty denied us by our elite overlords, I’ve nonetheless taken it in order to install myself as Speaker for the Zoo, to no contest.” She smiled and spread an arm to indicate the newcomers. “Therefore, to our esteemed guests, the Crystal Gems of Earth, we welcome you to our humble Quarters..”

“Woo!” shouted an amethyst.

“..In which we hope to discuss a potential mutually-beneficial alliance between our two factions,” she finished breezily despite the interruption.

Pearl was about to speak, but Garnet held up a hand for silence. She commanded it instantly.

“Famethyst, Jaspers.. Carnelian,” she nodded at the small gem seated casually in one of the first level cubbies who was making notations into a transparent floating screen, “I am Garnet of the Crystal Gems. I would like to begin by saying this. You have all been extremely gracious hosts during our short but eventful visit today. I’m sure you all noticed my concern in particular for the human amongst you. However, the issue is now settled. Please accept my apologies for the incident and the collateral damage that occurred due to that.”

“We’re going to fix it up! Don’t worry!” shouted Steven quickly as Peridot waved reluctantly.

The Zoo staff all murmured at each other agreeably as the Crystal Gems exchanged hopeful glances.

A hand shot up. “Hey Lars - are you cool?” shouted 8XJ, suddenly, from high up in her cubby.

Lars looked confused. “Uh, yeah?”

“Then it’s fine!” shouted a Jasper, which resulted in a “Shhh!” from elsewhere, which caused Amethyst to laugh, and suddenly everyone else was laughing too.

“You guys can come smash this place up anytime you want!” called out someone else.

“She’s not joking. They love it when people wreck their stuff,” Lars observed quietly to Steven, who giggled.

A hand shot up. “So where is Rose Quartz?” came a question from the wall. “Why isn’t your leader here?”

The Crystal Gems exchanged glances. Pearl clasped her hands together in front of her and began, “Rose Quartz.. is no longer-”

She cut herself off as she noticed Steven boldly stepping forward.

“I got this, Pearl.” he said softly. Then, a little louder; “Hi, everyone. It’s great to see you all again! Garnet is our leader. As for Rose, uh.. I’m not _exactly_ sure how much Amethyst and Lars have told all of you about me, but my name is Steven Quartz Universe. I’m half human and half gem. Sort of a hybrid?”

Lifting his shirt, he bared his gem to the room and his voice rang out loudly and clearly for everyone to hear.

“Almost fifteen years ago, Rose Quartz gave up her physical form so that I could come into existence. Rose was my mom - this used to be her gem.” He paused briefly, allowing this all to sink in. “I am her son, and now it’s mine.”

A heavy silence entered the room to be broken briefly by Lars who could only fixate on the one thing that surprised him about all this.

“..You’re FOURTEEN?”

Amethyst glanced up at him. “Shhh!”

Steven grew a little nervous as he noticed all eyes were fixated on either him or his gem. “A-are there any questions about that?”

Another hand shot up. And another. Then ten more. Garnet and Pearl glanced at each other in worry before Steven picked one. “Ah, y-you? You have a question?”

“Hi! Yeah, my name is Amethyst Facet-5 Cut-8XC. My question is; What?”

“Can you be more.. specific?” asked Steven, attempting a smile despite floundering a little. Could he have worded it better? He’d certainly tried his best to verbalize the concept better than he had done in the past.

“Rose Quartz, leader of the Crystal Gems, defended the Earth only to give up her physical form for.. you?” the amethyst looked incredulous as Steven spluttered a little.

“Rose.. fell in love with the Earth,” ventured Pearl, frowning. “She loved it more than anything. And the funny thing about Earth is that eventually you notice that everything on it is always growing. Always.. changing. Even the Earth itself. And, she fell in love with that, too. I suppose, as the centuries went on, she wanted more and more to become a part of it.. I know, it can be hard to understand her decisions. Even though she’s no longer here with us, a part of her lives on in Steven.” She paused, rubbing the back of her arm with a hand, glancing to the side. “That’s something the humans say.”

A subdued hubbub arose from the room, until a louder voice cut through.

“So - you _are_ Rose Quartz?” came another question from a Jasper.

“No. I’m Steven, her son.”

“But you have her memories?” asked another Amethyst.

“No, again,” he repeated, patiently. “I have some of her powers, but I’m just her son.”

“So,” came another, “what you’re saying is that you’re Steven, not Rose?”

“Yep, that’s me!” He smiled, a little strained, holding his hands out in an entreating manner. “Steven. Not Rose.”

The amethysts and jaspers chattered amongst themselves until Skinny spoke back up. “Everyone, stop! Stop _theorizing_.” She cleared her throat. “We recognize that Steven is not Rose Quartz. Thank you for explaining.”

The Crystal Gems all exchanged glances, looking relieved. On some level, they had expected more pushback. The hubbub died once again as Skinny continued to speak.

“Another question that I know has come up repeatedly among us since the last time we met, that Lars has been unable to answer - What was the Diamond Attack, exactly? We were all evacuated from Earth before it happened and we’ve heard the stories trickling down from Homeworld, all clearly untrue in light of, well, you being here with us right now.” She hesitated before continuing. “What _happened_ to the multitude of gems that were on Earth at that time? Are they okay? And the Earth is still intact?”

Peridot shrugged at Connie and Steven, and all of them glanced up at the two of them who had actually been there. Garnet clasped her hands in front of her, a solemn look upon her features.

“The Attack was real. It came in the form of a sound and a bright light that blasted and shook the Earth’s surface from the sky. Pearl and I were only saved from it by Rose and her shield. Our Amethyst hadn’t yet emerged, which meant she was also safe.” She paused. “The Earth itself and its native life were untouched by it, but every living gem caught in it immediately released their forms. And, when they reformed, they were monstrous and irrational. Still alive, but no longer in control of themselves.”

Horrified gasps came from the crowd and Pearl and Garnet looked strained. Clearly the old wounds were still there.

“A single Rose Quartz could stand up to the fury of three Diamonds?” came a voice slightly louder than the others.

Pearl looked away as she covered her mouth with a quivering hand.

“We called it the Corruption,” continued Garnet, having seen Pearl’s state. “And the term stuck. What we’ve had to do.. to keep the Earth safe, over thousands of years, scouring the Earth to find them. Fighting and bubbling the gemstones of both our friends and former enemies. We believe we have most of them safe in bubbles, but there are others still out there on Earth that we have yet to catch. The only uncorrupted, unbubbled gems on Earth are us.”

Amethyst stretched her arms and placed her hands behind her head. “But no worries! We totally got it under control.”

“So.. our fellow quartzes who were left behind..” swallowed Carnelian.

“Yes,” confirmed Garnet. “Those of you who were with us, or fighting against us at the time of the Attack were caught in it, along with many others. But Rose was always looking for a way to heal them. We may yet find a way.”

The hubbub that followed was more subdued this time. Lars found himself frowning hard, this being his first time hearing of any of this in so much first-hand detail.

“Your goal then is to do right by these corrupted gems?” asked Skinny.

“Our goal is as it was originally; to protect the Earth and every living being that calls it home,” corrected Garnet. “Whether animal, vegetable or mineral. By bubbling corrupted gems, we are protecting both them and Earth’s native life from each other.”

“That sounds hard to do since there are six of you,” commented a random jasper.

“We’ve thwarted a number of recent Homeworld incursions on Earth, but they continue to come. We know that Diamond attention is coming to focus once again on our planet. What that means for the future is..” Garnet paused, the streams and pools of possibility too many and widely varied to quantify, “-uncertain, but I know that we can turn this tide. If you decide to contribute to our effort, know that it won’t be easy. It may eventually mean conflict against the forces of Homeworld itself. We’ve known the joys of life on a lush and vibrant Earth free from Diamond rule. We believe it’s worth the risk.”

A silence occurred as the zoo staffers all considered her words. Shortly, Skinny exhaled.

“Us quartzes are among the few only uncorrupted, unbubbled Earth gems remaining in the known universe simply because one of our own got it into her gem to shatter Pink Diamond.” She paused. “The burden of that stigma has been with us for thousands of years. Yellow wants us shattered - the only reason we’re still here is because Blue can’t let any of Pink’s creations go. And until recently, that-” here, she shrugged with a depreciating grin, “-worked out pretty well for us. But..”

Skinny took a breath. She was starting to feel her emotions bubbling up, but she was working on quashing them as she glanced around at her fellow Quartzes - who were all gazing back at her with confidence. After a moment, she felt like her friends had helped her restore some of her strength. She spoke again.

“This facility is a glorified prison. I can confidently speak for all of us here in these quarters - and poor 8YT who is elsewhere distracting Holly Blue right now - when I tell you that we want better. We no longer want to exist knowing it could all be over on some.. unknowable _whim_. Every rose quartz gemstone in existence, bar one, is bubbled in this facility - which serves as a reminder of that to us. Even the humans we keep are suffering, having missed out on thousands of years of growth and development alongside the rest of their kind - some of the many things we haven’t been able to provide them. They’ve been described as ‘dumb as heck’ by Lars, compared to the humans still living wild on Earth.” She turned her eyes up to stare at the Earth-based gems and humans in the center of the room. “They deserve to know life on Earth the way he did, the way you do.”

“You deserve better too,” said Connie. “You guys are awesome!”

“And we can’t forget the loss of the Off Colors,” said Garnet, glancing at Lars. “Without their sacrifice, none of this would have ever happened. I propose that this alliance will also do all it can to recover every one of them.”

“Already working on it,” smiled Skinny. She blushed a little. “Garnet, really - you had us the first time you stole your humans back, and then again just now during the encore with Lars. We enthusiastically extend our offer of an alliance between us. This facility can be your base behind enemy lines. We can provide you with information on the rest of the Empire accessible to us. We can warn the Earth of any threat we learn of. We have modern gem tech, resources and ships, however limited.. and all of us are ex-soldiers, so there’s that too. We’ve all discussed it at length and we offer all we have. All we want is to someday return to an Earth safe from the Order.”

“It’s settled,” said Garnet, simply. “We have an alliance.”

“But, what about Holly Blue Agate?” asked Pearl, looking a bit nervous. “We humiliated her once before and it appears to have worked out well for you all, but how much more insubordination can she handle before she runs to Blue Diamond?”

“Leave her to us. We’ll make it work.” Carnelian promised, smiling, causing a handful of quartzes to chuckle ominously.

“Wait, how do we even get in touch with Earth if we hear anything?” asked Lars after swinging an arm around above him. “Steven can’t be jumping in and outta my head every five minutes.”

“Well, Earth’s Communication Hub?” offered 8XY. “I know there’s one here. I helped construct it.”

“Oh - no. It’s in ruins,” said Pearl. “And when it _is_ up and running, it disrupts humanity’s global communication systems. They get really ticked off when things like that happen.”

“We can’t hurt TV again!” cried Steven. “Wait! What about the wailing stone?”

“A wailing stone!? Classic Era One tech!” said Carnelian, voice full of wonder. “Wow. There can’t be many of those around anymore. Earth must be full of stuff like that.”

“And we even know how to get it to interface with modern gem and human technology,” Pearl gloated, but then had a thought. “However, we can only receive signals with that method. Not send. Hmm.”

Peridot raised a touchstump. “I will take a look at it.”

Skinny was impressed. “Really? Well, it’s a start. If you can fiddle around with that, we’ll see if we can source a direct-line communicator that will at least be more.. portable.”

From there, any remaining shred of pretense dropped and everyone in those quarters were all just Earthlings, of Earth, curious and outspoken, willing to allow themselves to be open to new possibilities. Anyone who wanted to speak, spoke, and with every word that passed, a new bond was formed between these two groups who had once, long ago, fought on opposite sides of a long and terrible war.

 

* * *

 

Hours later, as the rather informal (as it turned out) summit was winding down and temporary goodbyes were being said, Steven asked Lars to bend down and, from his hair, he pulled a box. On top of it sat an envelope. As Lars righted himself again, rubbing his head, Steven held it out for him to take.

“Here. There’s more things from your parents.. No food, though - I made sure to tell them what you said.”

Lars had a look of reluctance on his face. “Steven. It’s cool you wanna bring me stuff from home and all, but I don’t really _need_ anything out here. And I don’t have anywhere to keep it where the zoomans an’ the gems won’t just find it and mess it up-”

Steven suddenly looked up from a thoughtful moment he'd been having while Lars vocalized his problem. “Oh, I know! You can just put it away in your head!” Steven was excited.

Lars frowned. “Uh, no. We already established that I can’t-”

But Steven was insistent that he knew what he was talking about. “No, no. This is a different thing Lion did one time. It was the first time I saw my mom’s sword - the one Connie has now, although I didn’t know it was hers until much later.”

Lars stared blankly. “Uh, okay? So how did Lion do this.. thing?”

Steven went back to looking thoughtful. “I.. don’t know, but when he did, he made his eyes go all glowy, and so did his mane. Then, there was this other light, and the handle of the sword appeared in his forehead. He did that all by himself, without me.” He placed an index finger on his chin as something occurred to him. “No idea how he got it back in there for me to find under the tree later, though, when he finally showed me the other dimension. But.. Maybe you could give that a go sometime and keep all your stuff in there! I promise I won’t go through it if I come across anything.”

“Ahhhhhh, his.. forehead-?” Lars had a look of weirded-out uncertainly plastered on his features, but Steven was already onto the next item.

“And, there’s a letter!” Steven smiled, back to being excited for Lars. “I won’t spoil who it’s from, but I also included pens, paper and envelopes so you can write back. And.. I’ll be your personal mailman! Is there an oath I have to take first?”

It took Lars a moment to understand that it was a serious question. He shrugged in response.

“Aw. Well, don’t worry, I’ll ask Jamie.” Steven looked so excited for a moment, but then he dropped the smile. “And.. I’m still really, _really_ sorry. I still don’t know all the details, but I’m going to talk to Garnet when we’re back on Earth. I hope everything’s okay.”

Lars blinked in surprise, clutching the package with one hand into his side. “Steven, it’s fine. There’s no hard feelings.”

Steven was surprised by this. “Really? I thought you’d be more-”

Lars shrugged. “Why would I wanna screw this up by being salty about it? I’ve learned enough about gems to know they’re not typically this nice to me unless I’m lying to them.”

“Hah, I can relate to that,” Steven said, beaming back up at him. “Usually when I tell a gem who my mom was, they beat me up or try to kill me.”

“Dude, I know,” Lars said softly. Poor kid.

Steven lowered his gaze and rubbed the back of an arm. “I can’t believe they just.. accepted it. They seem to really believe I’m not actually Rose Quartz.”

Lars shrugged. “Yeah, it’s cool how these gems know about human family stuff. I guess it’s from dealing with humans for literally forever.”

“Yeah. Something really great happened today, didn’t it? Gosh, I’m so jazzed!”

Lars laughed and rolled his eyes. “’Jazzed’? Stars.”

“Pfft, ’Stars’?” came Steven’s sly retort. Lars tightened his lips and shrugged in response.

For a long while they stood together quietly, watching the hubbub go on around them. Across the room, Garnet, Skinny and a couple of others were talking between themselves while Pearl was reviewing Carnelian’s note-taking in an approving manner. Nearby, Amethyst was roughhousing loudly with a crowd of her kin, joined by an enthusiastic Connie, as well as Peridot whose standoff-ish exterior appeared to have been worn down during the course of the summit.

“Everyone’s really getting along, huh?” Steven inhaled deeply. “Hey Lars? I know you feel like you failed, but if you’re still looking for something you can blame yourself for, maybe you could start with this.”

Lars looked down at the kid, surprised. “I was just about to say something like that to you, Steven,” he said as he placed a hand on the kid’s shoulder.

Steven’s eyes welled with happy tears.

 

* * *

 

Late into the ‘night’, after the Crystal Gems had all returned to Earth through his head, Lars sat in his spot on the hill next to the unopened box he’d received not long beforehand. The letter, which was spread out over several sheets of paper, unfolded in his hands and illuminated by his own glowing eyeballs, read thusly:

 

> “Hey Lars!
> 
> So. This is weird. I’ve never written a letter before. Well, okay, that’s a lie. I did write one when my class was made to, back in elementary school. We had to pick someone, anyone we wanted, and write them a letter. I chose to write to the President and all I asked was if he would abolish highschool. I was nervous about becoming a freshman the following year and.. I guess I really thought he’d go for it! What can I say - dumb kid, right? :)
> 
> Alright, so I lied again. I did write another letter. To my father. Only once, without being made to. What an exercise in disappointment that was.
> 
> I’m rambling.
> 
> ~~I hope you are well.~~ Wow. What a dry and meaningless thing to read on a piece of paper. What I actually mean is - I’ve been so worried and sick and numb just thinking about you being out there, somewhere, in space. I miss you so much. How have you been? I lied again, I really really do hope you are well, just reading those words written down seemed so fake? when I re-read them. It should go without saying that I hope you are well, I always have.
> 
> Do you really not need to eat and sleep anymore? I have no reason to doubt what Steven says, but I hope you make sure to eat and sleep occasionally anyway, just in case.
> 
> Steven also told you I started a band. With the Cool Kids - sorry! It happened naturally. It wasn’t anything against you. I really hope you can believe that. I even wrote a song or two about you. We’re still playing basements (my bedroom) but we’ve already recorded a couple. I can send copies over if you wanna hear - I can raid your room for your mp3 player and headphones if you want me to. I don’t want to invade your privacy without your knowledge, so just let me know what you need, and I can give it to Steven for the next time he visits you.
> 
> It feels so much better to be able to do something other than worry. Which I still do as well.
> 
> I wasn’t sure how to address this, exactly. We were taught that in school too, of course, but in this case I have no idea. Somewhere in space? A zoo somewhere in space? That sounds so crazy and wrong, but Steven insists you’re okay. Specifically that you aren’t chained to a wall doing tricks for peanuts.. which is great to hear! In fact, sounds like you’re running the place - he tells me that you’ve made lots of gem friends.. but that you’ve lost some as well, and that’s why you can’t come back to Earth just yet, and I get it. I think I get it.
> 
> But, I really miss you, Lars. Do I ask to come see you? I don’t know. Do you want to see me? Do we need this time apart?
> 
> Look after yourself, okay?
> 
> With love,
> 
> Sadie.”

 

Lars let his glowing eyes linger on the last few lines of the letter, his thoughts and expression a mess.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry about making you all read about a meeting - aren’t you glad this is the shortest chapter so far?! I tried to make it an interesting exploration of the main issues that I could see hiding between the lines of this situation - I hope it was interesting.


	6. The Repair.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A bit of bonding takes place.

The completely arbitrary series of actions they had taken over the course of the day had lead them to the forest on the edge of Beach City. To a litter of kittens without a mother. To Garnet, cross-legged, finally spilling over with tears in the autumn rain.

“Lately, I’ve felt so lost.”

It was time to explain.

“We’re on the outskirts of the possible, following trickles to _who-knows-where_. Everyone’s looking to me for answers, and I can’t stand it!” she’d admitted to her young charge, who had been gazing across at her in concern. “It’s so hard for me to just exist in the first place, Steven. I want to love being alive, I want to love that there are so many possibilities - but I’m the one with this ability, so I’ve got to be our guide. I thought, if I could use my future vision to jump into improbable futures, I could get out ahead of the next big unexpected change. But I don’t know what I’m doing here! I can’t tell what’s probable anymore! Anything could happen!”

She’d raised up the armful of kittens, mewing in the rain. “Anything could happen to these cats!”

It had led to Steven - the one to talk her down, to give her the perspective she hadn’t up until that point thought she needed.

Another chapter in the story of her long life, she thought - another improbable situation having fallen straight into her lap, but it had brought her to the revelation that she had been thinking about Steven in the wrong way - a way that was no longer applicable to the current state of affairs. Donut Lars hadn’t been the issue - instead, merely an outcome. She saw that now. It was Steven. He’d matured so much and so _quickly_ that she needed to change the way she thought of him.

Garnet sat alone in the open-plan living room as the rain belted down outside. She was seated at the table in front of Steven’s laptop, running searches on cat behavior as Peridot and Steven had showed her. She’d been learning so much about these curious creatures, and she found that the more she learned, the less mysterious Cat Steven’s actions were. She wished they’d had one of these machines when Boy Steven was very young.

The new and unforseen relationship they’d formed with the quartzes at the Human Zoo had been a new start for them. She knew that the ability to comb gem space for information regarding the intentions and whims of the Elite was going to have a profound impact on her ability to guide everyone through this. The more she knew, the more she could identify and whittle away the more unlikely scenarios she saw. The more she could focus on the real possibilities. The more she could see.

If only everything else was as simple and uncomplicated as this small kitten, she thought, as she watched her sniff around a pair of Steven’s sandals over by the door.

She found herself thinking fondly of her old friend and mentor, Rose Quartz, at this moment. Her gaze automatically drifted from the kitten up to the image of her, beautifully painted on stretched canvas, hung above the door. From there, Rose’s familiar features had smiled down upon them all, on good days and bad, ever since the house had first gone up.

Rose had been right, long ago, to have become so fascinated by the Earth and the creatures living on it. She’d had such noble intentions in preserving the planet. The longer the passage of time without her, the more Garnet thought she understood why she’d wanted so much to become one with them. They were truly remarkable to start off so small and delicate, and yet become so inherently capable of such growth in such a short span of time.

However, she knew at her core that there was something she was missing. Something big, yet vague. Something no one knew. Something unlikely. The thing, whatever it was, continued to cast a looming shadow over Garnet’s vision despite these new developments, prompting her to get back to basics. To start simple.

The kitten, for example, was simple. Presently the tiny creature bounded over to rub herself against Garnet’s shin as she sat. She bent over to pick her up. It had only been a single day, and Garnet was surprised by how much she already loved her. She placed the kitten in her lap and petted her idly as she returned to reading a list of five anecdotes regarding the body language of cats.

“Garnet!” Steven cried happily as he crashed through the door with Connie, who was wearing her signature backpack and sword. They were wet from rain. Another obvious pick - they were on their way to space through Lion, who was sprawled out pretending to nap up in the mezzanine floor, on Steven’s bed.

“Hi Garn-” Connie started but it turned into a high-pitched squeal as soon as she saw the kitten. “Awwww! You must be Cat Steeeeven!”

Garnet smiled and allowed the children to come over and ply the kitten with much-deserved pats.

“I’ve only just met her and I already love her more than anything,” came Connie’s sworn affidavit.

“She’ll still be here when you get back,” said Garnet. “You two should be off to space about now. Cat Steven and I were just about to see how Pearl and Greg are going.” Then, cooing at the kitten; “Yes we were!”

“Yeah,” said Steven, glancing around. “Where are Peridot and Amethyst?”

“In Amethyst’s room, gathering tools,” she smiled. “They’re almost ready.”

Three seconds later, the purple gem on the temple door lit up, and it slid open.

Garnet watched everyone interact. Amethyst and Peridot were easy, so was Connie. They made sense. She watched as they spoke for a while, said goodbye, and then at last turned to climb the staircase towards Lion. But her gaze kept returning to her Steven.

Her mystery.

 

* * *

 

The bridge of the Human Zoo space station was an aesthetically-pleasing circular purple-pink affair, located somewhere in the top spire of the facility, following the usual lavish yet minimal gem sensibilities. Two winding staircases lead down into the station’s interior, and among its features was a pilot’s chair - often unused aside from when the facility required slight adjustments in orbit for whatever reason - as well as various other consoles stationed around its radius, a gigantic viewport up front, and the latest in modern gem technology. This cycle, the bridge was being manned by Skinny and another Jasper who was monitoring the communications console and performing general system checks.

“Everything’s fine as usual, Captain,” came the Jasper’s report. “We’ll need to adjust our orbit in thirty-eight cycles to account for the eighth moon passing close to us again, but we already knew that.”

“Great!” said Skinny, standing arms akimbo in the center of the floor as she stared out the viewport at the gas giant of which they were in orbit. “Although I did tell you just to call me Skinny. I still pour organic matter into a machine to feed the humans every day, just like the rest of us.”

“We’re committing the crime of mutiny,” laughed the Jasper without turning from her screen.

“ _Effectively_ , since no one other than Holly Blue knows about it.” Skinny corrected her, then added, “Yet.”

“Either way, you’re the one who appointed herself Speaker uncontested.. and, that’s just a fancy way of saying Boss, I figure. Why don’t we make it official?”

“Ugh, fine,” but she smiled to herself anyway. “Well, if you’re done with that, get back on the comms. This vast Perfect Empire won’t scour itself for information.”

They both jumped violently as an unexpected third voice occurred in the unwitnessed space between them.

“How’s that going?”

They spun around to see Lars, who had portalled in just in time to catch the end of the conversation.

“Stars! My form almost-” gasped the other Jasper. “Okay, sudden portals to the bridge should be disallowed, right, Captain?”

“Agreed,” said Skinny.

Lars blinked, surprised, at Skinny. “Captain now, huh? You were the Speaker, last I heard.”

“Apparently the ability to speak well is enough to achieve captaincy around here. 6TB here has seen fit to promote me, just now. Thank you, Bea!”

“Be as sarcastic as you like - the others will probably just agree with my wise ruling,” said 6TB, laughing. She was promptly joined by Skinny.

“It’s funny because us Jaspers aren’t typically known for our wisdom.” Skinny explained after the laughter trailed off.

A small section of the elegant geometrically-patterned purpink wall near the communications console was overlaid by a persistent holographic checklist, written in Gem. It had changed since Lars last looked at it and he studied it with interest. “We’ve.. still only got three of them?” he asked, squinting at it. “What are those new things? Direct..” His written Gem comprehension wasn’t great yet, but he was trying. “Oh! The communicator thing for Steven and his moms.”

“They’re a few items we need as per the minutes of the First Summit and the brainstorming in the Quarters after you guys left,” Skinny explained. “Yeah, the communicator for the Crystal Gems, a few items of modern weaponry which we probably can’t get anyway because of the resource crisis and since they’re restricted..” She scratched her head as she pondered that situation for the umpteenth before shrugging. “We’ll see what turns up. Then someone had the idea of maybe hunting down some Era One items that could help us in general if things go bad - Apotropaic and otherwise sundry artifacts from before my time. Before things got so.. technical.”

“Apotropaic?” parroted Lars.

“Protective magical stuff,” explained Skinny simply.

“That’s a wishlist,” breathed Lars.

“Anything like that still around from back then is probably tagged and bagged in a Homeworld archive somewhere, too dangerous to try for,” warned 6TB.

“Earth was an Era One Colony, right?” Lars asked, tapping an index finger to his chin. “Maybe there’s something there. There’s this one thing I know of that can record embarrassing personal moments and dredge it all back up in front of your stupid friends a few years later, if that’s helpful,” he added with a frown. “Or maybe that was a corrupted gem? Not sure if Steven ever explained it.” He shrugged. “More likely I just didn’t care.”

Skinny squinted a visionsphere. “That thing in particular is.. probably no good to us, but I’m loving the general idea. Wouldn’t be surprised if a lot of that stuff was destroyed during the rebellion, though.”

“No worries. I can ask Steven next time he shows up.”

“There could also be something lying around somewhere that could help us locate more of your crew,” suggested Skinny. “We want visionspheres on more of them before we move on what we have, in case we can get more with one strike-”

It made Lars sad to say, but he shook his head. “I get it. I know why we have to wait. Homeworld terrifies me, too.”

A silence passed between them as they stared out the viewport together.

“Hey, Lars?” Skinny started as her thoughts turned to the root of the situation. “Is it strange that we’ve thrown our meager weight behind the group responsible for the demise of Pink Diamond - the Diamond that created all of us?”

“I think it’s strange you’re asking _me_ that, since I’d never have existed if she hadn’t been shattered..”

“And you - you, apparently, are a human with the Aspect of an especially powerful rose quartz - the very same stone that once belonged to the one that shattered her, no less. I didn’t even know quartzes could do that!”

Lars felt awkward. “Well now you’re just, uh, saying more reasons why my opinion shouldn’t matter to you..”

“I know,” she folded her arms while she gazed out into space as Lars frowned at her a little bit.

“Good thing you seem to like me, then, I guess.” He paused. “Are you.. having second thoughts about the alliance?”

“No, no. Of course not.” Skinny shook her head decisively. “We all want better than what we have. And the Earth is worth protecting. But it’s hard not to have feelings about where you came from.”

“Welp!” exhaled Lars in a decidedly pleasant manner. Suddenly, the smaller pink beanpole clapped the much taller orange beanpole on the shoulder as they stared out of the viewport together. “Lucky you all came from Earth and not Homeworld, huh?”

“..Yeah,” Skinny smiled. “You’re right.”

The moment was rudely interrupted by Lars yelling suddenly and falling backwards. Skinny instantly snapped her head around to gape in shock as the mess of Steven, Connie (lumbered with backpack and sword combo), and Peridot (with a toolbelt around her waist, holding a welding mask) were flopped awkwardly on top of him. At least Amethyst, standing on his face in the form of a cat, had tried to be kind to him during their exit from the pink dimension.

“That.. wasn’t graceful,” groaned Connie as she hauled herself up onto her hands and slid herself back off the dogpile. Steven, Amethyst and Peridot soon picked themselves up off Lars as well.

“Ohhh, no. Sorry Lars!” Steven had his hands on his cheeks in concern at he studied his friend for injuries. “I thought if we all went through fast all at the same time, it’d be easier on you..”

“I.. regret.. the alliance..” choked a winded Lars from his position lying face-up on the floor.

“He, uh, doesn’t mean that,” Skinny smiled down at them all. “Hey guys! What are you all doing back so soon?”

“We’re here to fix the doors,” Connie said pleasantly.

“ _I’m_ here to fix the doors,” Peridot corrected her. “Hence the toolbelt. And the frown.”

Amethyst, in her classic humanoid form once again, threw a peace sign. “Uhhh, where are we?”

“This is the bridge of the station.”

“And that’s _Captain_ Skinny,” coughed the other Jasper who was glued to her console on the other side of the bridge, causing Steven to gasp.

“Wow! Ahem, Captain Skinny Jasper.” He bowed gracefully before Skinny could stop him and she noticed he was holding something high above his head. “Please, accept our gift!”

Skinny accepted it carefully to see that it was a small grey-blue in tone figure of a buxom longhaired gem, holding a small brilliant-cut pale gemstone. “Oh! Thank you - it’s beautiful!” She hesitated, glancing from it to Steven. “Um, what is it?”

Steven pointed up at it and explained. “That’s the Moon Goddess Statue. It’s just been lying around my house for the last two years. Me and Pearl thought you guys could use it here.”

“Yeah,” added Amethyst. “It’s one of those old artifacts from ages ago, supposed to be able to protect structures from certain kinds of harm. But, it only works if you actually have it in your backpack when you go to install it on top of the thing.. hey Steven?” she smiled meaningfully at him.

Steven frowned at her, “Aw, let it go, Amethyst. That happened two years ago. I’m a lot more smarter now.”

Connie gazed at her amazing, grammatically incorrect friend. “'A lot smarter', Steven.”

“Thanks, Connie,” He smiled at her before poking his tongue out at Amethyst. “See?”

“This is great,” said Skinny. “We were just talking about this kind of thing, weren’t we?”

Lars, in the background, had been recovering and was now in a sitting position on the floor, head in his hands. “Huh?” he groaned uselessly as he looked up with one eye at the goings-on.

“Magical items like this,” replied Skinny, holding it out for him to see.

 

* * *

 

Soon, Steven stood with Lars and Connie in one of the hallways, watching as work began on the promised repairs.

“How long do you think this will take, P?” asked Amethyst as the green gem in question removed the door control panel’s exterior and glanced inside. Beside them, a series of containers crudely stacked on top of each other temporarily blocked the entrance to the Containment Area.

“Hmm. Shouldn’t take too long, with the correct equipment of course..” she muttered, glancing down insecurely at the belt of primitive Earth tools she had returned to the facility with just now.

“Take all the time you need,” Lars said, still rubbing his forehead gently where literally everything had thwacked him on their way out, reluctant for it to happen again anytime soon.

“Thank you, gemlike Lars,” said Peridot, not catching the sarcasm. “I will!”

“It’s Lars,” he corrected her, trying to keep the distress out of his voice. “Just Lars. Not that I haven’t had enough massive head trauma for one cycle, but, uh, where are the others?”

Amethyst glanced up at Lars and answered. “Oh, the G-squad and Pierogi are working with Steven’s dad to set up the Wailing Stone with some Earth junk as a permanent communications fixture in the temple.” She smiled. “When I saw that whole thing start to happen, I thought to myself; ‘Yo, I want NONE o’ that biz!’ So I hopped on the next Lion train to Donutsville, Famethystland.”

Peridot rolled her eyes at this as she levitated her her blowtorch and mask up from her belt. “Yes. It’s highly likely I’ll be fixing that up later as well. The Pearl fancies herself as some sort of _technician_. Admittedly she does have the proclivity for the work, which I do find admirable, but..” here Peridot laughed derisively, “She’s still a _pearl_ , you know?”

“Yes, Peridot, we all remember that Pearl is a pearl,” said Amethyst patiently.

“What’s wrong with that? Pearl is awesome. I know pearls are made to be servants, but our Pearl kinda rose above that, you know?” smiled Connie.

But by this point, Peridot was fixated on the guts of the panel. “Well, anyway. Garnet certainly did a real number on this thing. I’ll have to strip it and replace all this wiring. I likely.. won’t be able to make Improv Group tonight, Amethyst.”

“Naw, man!” pouted Amethyst.

Footsteps, approaching, began to echo through the hallway. Lars recognized the cadence. “Guys? That’s Holly. We.. shouldn’t get in her way.”

“Huh?” asked Peridot, too involved in the task in hand to have heard properly.

Amethyst smiled and shapeshifted into a taller, bulkier version of herself wearing a Blue Insignia uniform. “I’m not worried. You guys go for it - Peri’s on a roll. Also, we know how to look the part.”

“Right.” Lars shrugged at the kids. “Uh.. I wasn’t about to get up to much before you all dog-piled me. Wanna go.. uhh, hang out at the lake?”

“Yeah!” the two children were enthused as a portal appeared.

 

* * *

 

 

Holly Blue had a pent up rage within her, one that she found herself powerless to do anything about anymore. These sullied and ruined Earth gems, she thought, as she stomped the hallways. First, they had ruined their original Diamond, and now they were doing the same to her. She knew they were all up to something, but she couldn’t put a touchstump on what it was, exactly.

She turned a corner to find an unfamiliar small green gem in a welding helmet using a flame torch on the containment area door panel, with one of the many amethysts standing to attention nearby. She stopped mid-step in shock.

“The.. door! Who are you? What is that!? What have you done to it!”

Peridot switched the flame off and glared at her. “-I- didn’t cause this!”

“That last question wasn’t addressed to _you_ ,” she clarified before pointedly turning her attention to Amethyst.

But Amethyst had heard of the power complex plaguing Holly’s entire existence these days and maintained a steady smartass smile. She was gratified to find Holly shortly backing off, redirecting her gaze after a short time, as Peridot began to get annoyed.

“Hey! Don’t flaunt your poor attitude at us, Blue Clod! I’m the one who was duped into fixing it, as per our new-” she suddenly stopped herself, narrowing her eyes. “Wait. You must be Holly Blue Agate.”

“That’s _right_ ,” began Holly pompously before Peridot cut her off.

“In that case, I’m under strict orders never to engage you in conversation. You may ignore me now.” She waved a hand dismissively and lowered the face shield, turning back to her work.

Holly Blue stood in shock a moment before she stalked away, seething in her newfound agonizing hatred for this place. Although on the surface everything was the same, there had been a profound shift in paradigm and, within it, she now found herself powerless. If only she could tell her Diamond everything she knew without having to admit how she had blindly let it all happen. She had severely diminished her own value the cycle she let those rebel gems escape with those humans - a crime worthy only of shattering. Not only that, but she knew that she had practically handed her ex-subordinates something to blackmail her with if it ever came down to it.

She walked past Skinny and Carnelian on he way back to her chamber. The two off colored betas smiled pleasantly at her, but she kept her eyes forward and ignored them.

“I almost feel bad,” said Carnelian once Holly was out of earshot. “Do you think we should try talking to her? Maybe we can get her to join us. What do you think, _Captain_?”

“She’d never go for it,” shrugged Skinny. “She’s enthraaaalled with Blue Diamond. Have you ever been in the same room as her and Blue? I haven’t of course because I’m flawed, and I doubt you have for the same reason.. but I hear it’s hilarious to watch,” she smiled.

Carnelian laughed as they turned a corner to find a small green gem in a welding helmet using a flametorch on the containment area door panel. They stopped in shock and Peridot turned to face them, flicking up her face shield, lips pursed and eyes narrowed.

“Hey guys!” shouted Amethyst as she shapeshifted back into her natural form.

“Hey again 8XM,” said Skinny casually.

“What?! They came back and you didn’t TELL ME?! Aaaah!” yelled Carnelian happily as she ran to place a hug on Amethyst, who joyously reciprocated.

“Uh, did Holly.. see you?” asked Skinny cautiously.

“Affirmative,” answered Peridot. “But.. I spoke to her. I of course urged her to ignore us, naturally.”

“Are you kidding? Peridot! You only gave her the verbal smackdown of the day!” laughed Amethyst.

“Well, that explains her temper this cycle,” giggled Carnelian. “The air around her was crackling.”

Skinny, however, had a warning. “Don’t push Holly too much. I think she knows what’s best for her, but we don’t want her to crack before we decide what to do with her.”

“She’s fine for now. She’s locked out of the bridge after all - not like she can tell anyone,” Carnelian smiled, then she turned her attention back to the goings-on.

“Where’d the other three go?” asked Skinny.

Peridot didn’t look up from whatever she was doing, “Steven and Connie ducked into the containment area with the gemlike.”

“Can we.. help at all?” Skinny asked, frowning at Peridot’s use of the obviously dangerous primitive blowtorch. “What’s that you’re using there?”

“This is a tiny flamethrower - an Earth tool for melting stuff. It’s extremely inaccurate for this kind of delicate work, but it gets the job done.”

She jumped slightly as the exposed wiring began to smoke and burst into flames.

“Eventually.” She added resentfully as she watched it sizzle out.

Skinny Jasper and Carnelian exchanged glances. “Uh,” began Skinny in a gentle way, “Didn’t anyone tell you that this facility has a workshop full of the latest in modern technology?”

“Really!?” Amethyst gasped.

Peridot groaned bad-temperedly. “Of course they didn’t! Take me there now,” she demanded as she pulled off the mask and toolbelt and discarded them along with the blowtorch.

The betas indicated for the two to follow them, and they turned and walked as a group in the opposite direction that Holly Blue had traveled.

“Why are you still wearing the Yellow Insignia?” Skinny asked of Peridot as they walked, curious about the decision.

“I’m a relatively recent Homeworld defect and haven’t yet decided where I’m going to put the star,” came Peridot’s simple reply.

“Oh!” Skinny was surprised. “Recent, huh? What made you end up defecting from Homeworld?”

“Well!” Peridot smiled. “It’s a long story littered with asterisks and footnotes, but I’m more than willing to tell it! It all started back on Homeworld where I once served as a lowly..”

“Here we go,” groaned Amethyst.

 

* * *

 

“I had an idea,” said Connie as she stood with her friends on the sandy shore of the lake inside the containment area. Her sword, shoes and backpack were discarded - tidily - beside her. “Since we’re just mucking around waiting for Peridot, we can see how smart the zoomans are.”

“Oh, haha, Connie. These guys are super not smart,” said Lars.

Connie smiled. “I think you’re underestimating the intrinsic human spirit and the mind’s adaptability and desire to learn. I believe that if we encourage them, they may very well be able to live free on Earth someday!”

Lars was instantly rendered off balance by her well-put hypothesis. “Wuh. So you’re much older than you look, too? ..Are you thirty?”

Connie provided Lars with a very dry look. “I’m thir _teen_ , and _you_ are on very thin ice young man.” She leaned down to pull a rubber ball and a set of three opaque plastic cups out of her backpack and smiled suddenly. “Let’s do an experiment!”

Soon, with a small crowd of the zoo’s denizens gathered around, Connie placed the cups upside down in a line in the sand near the lake. Lars and Steven were standing on either side, Steven with his arms akimbo, smiling confidently and Lars with his arms folded, frowning a little.

Connie cleared her throat presently. “Alright, everyone! This is a game. See this ball?”

The zoomans all nodded, excited and intrigued. “Are you going to Throw the Ball?” asked Wy-Six.

Connie furrowed her brow. “What? No, no. Just watch. I’m going to hide the ball under this rightmost ‘cup’.”

She smiled at the crowd. They all smiled back, and when she was certain she had their attention, she slowly and deliberately hid the ball as promised. The zoomans made little impressed noises as they watched this event unfold.

“Now,” said Connie, carefully. “You guys - can you point to which ‘cup’ the ball is under?”

They pointed at the obvious answer. Connie lifted the cup to reveal that they were correct, looking pleased, and the zoomans all cheered.

“Wow, good job, guys!” said Steven in a nurturing way.

“Ugh. Too easy,” Lars muttered quietly, disgusted by all this.

“Okay, now. Here goes the ball again, but this time-” with a short series of deft movements, she swapped two of the cups, and then two more. “Now. Which cup is the ball under?”

They unanimously pointed at the rightmost cup - the same answer as the first time. Connie raised her eyebrows, surprised. “Uh.. Are you sure none of you want to take a moment to think about it?”

“No,” said Wy-Six cheerfully. “We are sure!”

Connie reluctantly lifted the cup, to reveal.. nothing. The humans all recoiled and a chorus of disbelief rose from them. Steven frowned and raised an arm towards them. “Hey guys, don’t worry! We can explain what happened-” he began, but despite his words, the obviously freaked-out group of people muttered their excuses and left quickly. Steven raised an eyebrow in confusion, dropping his arm back down by his side.

“Wait!” Connie cried after them. “It’s really quite simple-”

But it was no use. In the ensuing silence, Lars began hysterically laughing. Connie gazed after them as the last one of them disappeared into the nearby forest.

“Fascinating. But.. these people will not survive the coming apocalypse,” said Connie sadly.

Meanwhile, Lars was gloating. “I told you - these guys are ridiculously dim-witted. You can’t talk to them about anything. Believe me, I’ve tried.”

Steven frowned. “Aw. Well, now I feel bad. How do we make them come back?”

Lars shook his head. “We spooked them. They won’t come back till later when their Little Overlord demands they all take a bath. In the meantime, there’s nothing much to do..” Lars smirked down at both of them. “So.. lake’s all yours?”

He yelled up a portal - the entry point hovered in the air not far from them while the exit was suspended high over the lake’s deepest waters. Steven and Connie immediately hollered with excitement as they kicked off any remaining footwear and lost whatever outer layers they could get away with without it being weird, and then they sprinted to take a running jump into the portal, instantly re-materializing in midair and cannonballing down into the water.

“WOO! YEAH!” yelled Connie after they resurfaced. “We should bring our swimsuits next time, Steven!” She waved over at Lars, still on the shore. “Hey Lars, you should have a go! It’s really-” she cut herself off when she noticed he’d started walking over towards them on top of the surface of the water. “Oh.. yeah, I forgot about your water-thing.”

Lars snorted. “I did too, once. Just dove in. Lost a tooth. It grew back in like, a day,” he said casually as he passed them and began to climb up the hill, back up onto his spot.

“Really?” asked Connie, not for the first time promising herself she’ll stop being surprised by magic stuff someday.

“Well what are you going to do?” called Steven as he splashed Connie. She giggled and splashed back.

“Sunbathe, maybe sleep,” replied Lars from above them as he lay back on a grassy patch.

“The ‘sun’ isn’t real, and you don’t need to sleep,” Steven pointed out.

“Thanks, Steven. You can keep reminding me of stuff I already know from the hallway.”

“Lars, wait! Can you set up the portals again so that the entrance is closer to us?” asked Connie with excitement in her voice.

“That.. sounds super lazy?” came Lars’ method of weaseling out of having to sit back up to do so.

“You’re right!” gasped Connie as she swam to make for the entrance, which was still open on the shore.

“Guys? If I’m asleep when you want to go home, make sure to wake me before you just throw yourselves into my head, kay?”

“Okay!” laughed Connie as she cannonballed down from high up in midair. Steven smiled as he treaded water, watching his best friend play with the extremely fun persistent portal setup.

“Watch me, Steven! I’m gunna try something cool-” This time, as she ran at the portal, she leapt with a flip. When she materialized above the lake, however, it caused her some disorientation. She landed extremely awkwardly in the water this time, so much so that Steven grit his teeth and swam over in case she needed help.

“Connie! Are you okay?”

“Yeah,” she was soon back treading water normally but bobbed awkwardly as she raised a hand to her head. “Aaaaugh. Ow. I guess I just assumed I could do a series of sweet flips the whole way down.” She laughed. “I guess I’d need a diving coach for that, though.”

Despite her attempt at making light of how she was almost rendered unconscious by an errant pool trick, Steven looked troubled. She noticed. “What’s wrong? I’m fine!” she insisted, but it wasn’t enough to get Steven to smile again.

In fact, he was unexpectedly very serious. “Hey, Connie? I have a.. pretty messed-up question for you.”

She glanced at him and squinted a little. “Exactly how messed up would you say it is?”

He sounded vaguely anguished as he replied. “Oh.. Faaaairly up there in the realms of messed-up-ness.”

“Then, go on. Hit me.”

She motioned to a nearby rock sticking out of the water that was big enough for them both to sit on. They both swam over and climbed up to sit on it. Although the sun was a fake, both the kids were pleased to see that it still seemed to have the ability to warm wet skin and dry damp clothing.

“Connie, I’m.. worried,” he started in a low voice. “Because you’re surrounded by magical stuff all the time. And now even _Lars_ of all people has these magical powers now.. I’m worried because-”

She shut her eyes and shook her head. Matching his low voice, she said “Steven, stop. I know what you’re going to ask, but.. yeah, it would be cool to have powers, maybe, but I don’t want them. Don’t need ‘em. I’m the badass normal. And a pretty good sword-fighter.. and I’m always crazy prepared.” She smiled. “Besides, I share your powers when we’re fused, which is usually when things are the most dangerous.”

“You mean, you’re not-”

“No, I’m not envious of anyone’s powers. I think they’re cool!”

Steven persisted, unconvinced. “But.. is that really enough? I mean, back when I was little, I couldn’t wait until the day I could use my powers! I was always practicing, always dreaming about the day when I could finally just summon my shield, make a bubble that wasn’t an accident, and I tried and tried to heal Amethyst when-”

Connie waved a hand around to get him to stop. “Steven, stop. You’ve always had this thing you’ve felt like you’ve had to live up to, whereas.. I’m a just a human. C’mon. What are you really asking me?”

Steven looked aghast before lowered his eyes. “I-I. I’m sorry. I.. can’t..”

Connie blinked at him and tilted her head. When she spoke again, it was with kindness and patience. “Okay. Well, can I make a guess?”

Steven nodded, frowning, preferring to watch the water ripple at their ankles below them rather than meeting her eyes.

She dropped her voice a little. “You’re angling to ask me if I want to die so that you can bring me back with pink powers-”

She glanced up as the portals abruptly blinked out of existence.

“Aw no.. I guess Lars fell asleep?” said Connie before returning her gaze back to Steven, whose expression was pure horror.

“No! Connie, that makes it sound like I’m trying to suggest you _should_..! I don’t want that! What I’m failing to ask you, is.. if you were to.. accidentally.. you know. Would you _want_ me to bring you back?” He sighed. “But, I already have my answer..”

Connie’s brow furrowed as she attempted to get at the root of this odd sequence of words he was saying. “Why in the world are you asking me this?”

He was hesitant to say, until she jostled him softly. Steven then sunk at his shoulders, with an odd look on his face. Shame? Embarassment? Fear? Connie wasn’t sure, but she listened to what he had to say.

“When I brought Lars back to life, I didn’t know I could do that. It was so messed-up, Connie - one moment, he was alive and saving everyone. And the next, he was.. on the ground, not moving. I’ve seen gems poof before, but this wasn’t like that at all. I thought.. no, I _knew_ that my cool big-brother-type friend was gone forever. And that it was all my fault.” His eyes dropped some tears. “I was so happy when he came back! But, he never got to choose for himself whether he wanted it or not. And now he’s pink and in space surrounded by aliens, in this situation he never asked for or wanted to be in.. And that’s all on me. He says it’s fine and for me to not blame myself, but it’s.. kinda all I do? I’m busy blaming myself for everything else anyway.” He looked down into the water’s depths and sunk his shoulders in. “It’s not too far out of my way to add him to the checklist.”

“Steven..”

“Oh jeeze, I really am a crier,” he chuckled sadly as he smooshed his tears around his face in the effort to dry them. “Anyway, my point is, that’s not what I want to do to people. Everyone should have a choice. That’s pretty much all I wanted to ask you. For argument’s sake, say you..” he hesitated, unable to say it.

“..Bite the big one?” offered Connie.

Steven nodded, “Yeah, s-somehow. You can come back like Lars and like Lion, or you can also.. not..” He shrugged gingerly as he came to the crux of his issue; “What would you choose?”

Connie widened her eyes. “That’s stupid, Steven. Of course you should! Of course you should try to bring me back. Of course I’d want to come back! Being dead seems.. boring. Worse than boring! And, and - if there’s an afterlife, I’d be even more bored if you weren’t right there with me.”

She placed a hand on his shoulder, and he looked up to meet her eyes as she continued. “Steven, if something horrible happens to me and I die - even if it didn’t bring me back, you _should_ be crying all over me, Steven. For as long as you need to!” She blushed, “Besides, I’d consider myself a terrible friend if I thought for even one second that you couldn’t bring yourself to cry on me. I’d do the same for you, without hesitation, whether you ‘wanted’ it or not.”

Steven found himself with big ugly tears streaming down his face just listening to her words.

Connie smiled softly at his weepy, snotty face and blushed. “What else in the world should you expect from someone who loves you, Steven?”

Trying to respond, Steven instead blubbered incoherently.

“Oh, Steven.. c’mere.” She reached over to pull him into an embrace. “Just.. don’t worry. Nothing like that is happening anytime soon, okay? I’m serious. I have zero plans of ever leaving you-”

Lying unseen, staring at the ‘sky’ up above them on the hill, Lars hadn’t entirely meant to eavesdrop _at first_ , but then it happened. Having already worked on figuring out the forehead thing Steven described to him during the winding-down of the Summit, he summoned his favorite pair of sunglasses and his MP3 player courtesy of his parents in their last package. He quickly whipped them the rest of the way out, popped on the headphones and, in the same motion, jammed the shades on to hide his tears. He then fiddled with the player until it started blasting whatever noise was loaded on it - it didn’t matter, he just didn’t want to hear any more.

“Huh,” said Steven, looking upwards as soft tinny music drifted down from above. “I feel sort of like.. he heard all of that.”

“Doesn’t he know he’ll go deaf if he listens with the volume cranked like that?” asked Connie.

She noticed as Steven shut his eyes and sighed deeply. “I should.. go talk to him I guess? Not about going deaf, but.. everything else..” he started, as he pulled himself into a standing position on the rock and prepared to jump up to Lars’ ledge.

But he hesitated as Connie grabbed him by the shoulder. “No, wait! Stop worrying about him, Steven - He’s basically an adult. If he wants to eavesdrop, that’s his problem. If he wants to talk about whatever he heard, he can bring it up himself. Or not!” She smiled. “Wanna swim s’more? It’s probably still raining back home but it’s lovely here.”

“You know I do,” he smiled back.

 

* * *

 

Much later when they were done playing, they dried themselves off and climbed the hill to poke Lars.

“Hmm?” he asked, pretending he was only now being woken up.

“Nice shades! Looking cool!” Steven did the fingerguns at Lars as the taller boy sat up and removed the shades, rolling his eyes.

“You guys moving on?” Lars asked, yanking off the headphones, secretly glad that his face had long since stopped being puffy.

“Yeah, but first - where’s the bathroom?” Steven asked.

Lars gave a sad smile. “Uh, let me level with you guys. You’re better off just holding it until you’re home. The toilet situation here is.. super feral.” He paused darkly. “Another reason I don’t like to eat.”

Steven and Connie wrinkled up their noses. “Ew.”

“Well. It’s getting pretty late at home,” Connie explained, showing him her watch. “And it’s a school night. We were thinking we should see how Peridot’s getting on.”

“No problem,” said Lars, hauling himself to his feet. “Wanna walk?”

“Never!” the two kids shouted.

Shortly the three of them exited a portal to find themselves in the hallway outside the door to the containment area. The panel - seemingly repaired - looked good as new. Skinny, Peridot, Carnelian and Amethyst and a few other quartzes were sitting around on a sofa-like arrangement they’d made out of the containers that were no longer needed to block the doorway, since the elegantly-decorated pink door was now back up, online, and presently closed.

Steven waved. “Hey, Peridot! Hey Amethyst! Are you ready to go home?”

“Home!? Hah! I’m having a blast. Look at all this stuff! I have access to modern Homeworld tech again! I feel like a bull in a candy field.”

“..Kid in a candy store,” corrected Lars.

“What?” asked Peridot, pointedly facing him.

“It’s.. the phrase.”

“Oh? Well, anyway! I finished fixing the doors ages ago and we’ve just been talking this whole time. We told them about how the three of us defeated Jasper! ..The, uh, the one who came to Earth with me, of course,” she added, smiling disarmingly at the couple of jaspers present.

Steven’s eyes went wide, anticipating problems, but Skinny merely laughed as she noticed. “Oh - yeah, we all knew The Ultimate Jasper.”

“Kept acting like she was better than us,” said Carnelian. “Ditched us the first chance she got for Yellow Diamond.”

“She was always sort of the odd one out. It’s terrible to hear she became corrupted though,” said Skinny in a low voice. “But, either way, we’re all on the same side here.”

“Oh. Thank goodness,” breathed Steven, wondering at the forgiving nature of these amazing gems. “In that case, Connie also helped defeat her, a different time!”

“Aw, Steven..” blushed Connie as the quartzes asked to hear that story too. “We’re going to be late- oh who cares! So there we were, Steven and Lion and Amethyst and I, on the beach..”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Start of Phase 2! 
> 
> This is really kind of a meandering chapter. I had a few different things I wanted to write about but couldn’t think of how to make them their own chapters, or to tie them all into one, so I just tried to.. kind of make them all lead into each other, instead? 
> 
> But.. God damn. Writing this made me realize how bad Steven needs therapy (as if we all didn’t already know).
> 
> Connie’s just having fun and kicking it normal-person style, though. At least that’s good to see for now! Still trying to find their voices a little bit but I think this helped.


	7. The Supply Run.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Space mission, anyone?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Bit of a format change moving forward - After six chapters I suddenly realized it was easier to write 8XY and 8XZ as just Wy and Zee. Just so you know!

Since Lion had been back in action - once again on speaking terms with Steven apparently, Lars was surprised at the frequency with which Steven opted to visit him. It happened at least once a day, and he was usually accompanied by Connie, or, if she happened to be at school or otherwise preoccupied, someone else would be with him - usually at least Amethyst or Peridot. The gems aboard the space station were becoming used to seeing their new allies at odd unexpected moments and looked forward to these visits.

Such a moment occurred presently while Lars, who had taken to helping out around the place to excise his own boredom, had been cleaning in the Quartz’s Quarters. The highly advanced and modern gem equipment required to do so were remarkably similar to those on Earth - a mop, and a bucket with warm soapy water. All of a sudden, the bucket was tipped over and he was lying in a large soapy puddle alongside the two kids who had just spilled out of his head.

“Eugh!” complained Connie, sitting up. “Lars? Are you.. mopping?”

“You never mop!” Steven giggled. “Sadie’s going to be so impressed-”

“You know, you guys don’t need to visit so often,” snapped Lars, irritable at this second. “It’s still just boring old life aboard the space station. Nothin’s going on here. You’ve got that Wailing Stone thing set up now on your end - we can catch up over that.”

Steven stood carefully and held out his hand to help Connie up. “Yeah, but it’s mostly quiet at home too. And I like coming to see you! So do Connie and the others.”

Lars pulled himself up into a sitting position. “Well, fine, it’s great you’re here, then. Listen, I gotta talk to you about something.”

“Sure! What is it?”

“That last thing my parents sent. Most of it was homework, and I don’t like it, dude. I need it to stop.” He looked very serious about the issue, but neither Steven nor Connie could see why.

“Why? They want you to graduate,” Connie said. “Your mom told your school that you’re off visiting family in the Philippines and they’ve made some special arrangement for you as long as you can keep up with homework.”

Lars raised his arms, freaking out. “The Philipi- I’m not even in the same _sector_ as the Philippines! And I was hardly at school when I was!”

Steven was confused. “But you were always at work. You have time now, especially since you don’t need sleep anymore.”

Lars slapped his own face with a hand. “..You didn’t tell them that too, did you?”

“Well, yeah! I’ve been keeping them up-to-date with everything.”

“wHaT?!”

“Lars. Martha and Dante are your parents and they love you. Why shouldn’t they know what’s going on?”

Lars’ eyes were wide. “You’re on a first-name basis with them!?”

“Yeah, we both are! We hang out sometimes!” Steven smiled.

“You. Hang. OUT!?”

“No, it’s fine. Your mom crocheted a pair of fun banana socks for me. I wear them at night with my banana pajamas!”

Lars shut his eyes and sliced the air with his hands. “That’s WEIRD, STEVEN. No more homework! Tell them I’ll finish school, or not, when I’m back.”

Steven frowned. “Or not.”

“Huh?”

“Well, how long do you think you’ll be out here, Lars? Space is big-”

They both spun around, startled, as they are suddenly interrupted by Zee who had appeared seemingly out of nowhere.

“Lars! Steven! My stars, Connie too!? Quickly! You’re all in danger!” Her body language was distressing, her expression confused and scared - it earned everyone’s immediate attention.

“Zee? Wh-what’s going on?” asked Connie, sword immediately in hand.

Her visionspheres were wide - she was freaking out. “It’s Holly Blue! She’s in a rage, she’s about to open all the airlocks! You guys have to run!”

The kids gawked with wide eyes as Lars immediately turned to them, grabbing their arms. “Get in my head, dammit!”

“Aah!” panicked Steven. “B-but what about you!?”

“I-I don’t- Maybe I don’t need air anymore either?” His face had fear and doubt written all over it.

“What about the zoomans!?” cried Connie, on the verge of tears.

All three of them jumped, startled, the second Zee started laughing. Connie clutched at her chest. “What’s h-happening?”

Lars’ expression went from panicked fear to confusion to relief and then frustration all within the space of three seconds as he let the kids go. “AAAUGH. ZEE. You.. _jerk_!”

“WHAT?” Steven and Connie were visibly shaken. Seeing this, Zee quickly stopped laughing.

“This is another one of her pranks,” Lars explained, eyes closed tightly, thumb and forefinger massaging the bridge of his nose.

“..Sorry. Oh, I really am this time. I.. may have gone too dark with that one,” she said apologetically to the two kids, clasping her hands together in front of her. It was easy to tell she was having a blast, though.

“Ya think!?” asked Lars.

“C’mon - we laugh about it later,” she said defensively before turning back to the poor children, legitimately concerned for them. “Are you two.. all right?”

Steven was clutching at his chest as he got his breathing under control. “Y-yeah. That was.. pretty funny..”

“I think that’s shaved a year off my life,” Connie mourned.

But Zee was already moving on to other topics, directed at Lars. “Hey! So the real reason I wanted your attention is because Wy and I are going to go do a supply run. Wanna come with?”

“Really?” asked Lars with a sudden interest. “You mean, a trip off-station?”

“Well, yeah! It’s just a quick jump to the next colony over and back for organic matter that our machine makes the human’s fruit out of. Easy, no surprises. A very mundane mission. If you’re thinking you’re gonna rescue your crew, you should really learn the ropes of.. gem stuff. And I promise,” she quickly added, “No more pranks.”

“Zee!” Steven jumped up and down, waving his arms around. “Can me and Connie come?”

“What? Haha, Steven,” began Connie. “I’m sure two human kids just ‘tagging along’ will be obvious as heck-”

“Not if we do this-” He gave a sly smile and held out his hand to her. Understanding, she giggled and enthusiastically grabbed it. A glow radiated from Steven’s gem and soon their two bodies were enveloped in a white-pink light.

When it was over, someone new was standing there. Zee stepped back, floored and surprised, but Lars merely blinked.

“Oh, you guys really can fuse?” asked Lars, fairly casually. “I guess that makes sense.”

Stevonnie smiled at the reaction they’d achieved from Zee. However, when they looked at Lars, they frowned. “Lars.. I was expecting more of a big deal.”

“I know, but.. I mean, I’ve seen a lot of stuff since I left Earth.” Suddenly, he squinted. “But.. I _have_ met you before.. Hn.”

Stevonnie smiled. “When I went into the Big Donut once, you were there with Sadie.”

He was indignant. “Sadie and I were _always_ at the Big Donut, we were like the only two employees! You really think I’d be able to remember one person who came in one time-” and it suddenly hit him all at once. “That was YOU TWO KIDS?!”

Stevonnie smiled, arms akimbo. “Yeah! Cool, right?”

Lars clutched the sides of his head with both hands and hunched over to dry-retch a little. Stevonnie, watching this display, became concerned and quickly dropped the smile. “Uh.. Lars?”

During the brief crisis that ensued, he could be heard mumbling, “I’m going straight to hell..”

“Ugh.” Stevonnie rolled their eyes and stepped forward toward him. He looked sheepishly up at them as they approached. “Lars! Stop it! I’m Stevonnie.” They smiled warmly. “It’s.. great to properly meet you,” They held out a hand.

Their words lifted him from his breakdown, and Lars quickly straightened back up and accepted the handshake with as much cool as he could muster. “Yo Stevonnie. Good to meet you too.”

Meanwhile, Zee had been watching all of this and piped up. “So.. all of you are in?”

“Yeah!” said Stevonnie, turning to her. “Now I’m excited! When do we leave?”

“Hold your boulders,” cautioned Zee, looking them both up and down. “First, we’ll need to get you into some material uniforms, since you can’t shapeshift, and I doubt your fusion can too. Otherwise you’ll stick out like sore opposable touchstumps and get everyone shattered.” She smiled and motioned for both fusion and the gemlike to follow her. “C’mon.”

 

* * *

 

One trip to a workshop deep in the bowels of the space station later, they found themselves meeting with the Jasper in charge of ensuring the zoomans were properly clothed in well-fitting attire. She had very little else to do, so she took minimal convincing from Zee to accept the work. Presently, the Jasper took the measurements of the two near-humans and set about plying her craft.

A fulfilled work bill and and one awkward conversation about privacy and where they should change later, they were dressed in customized blue uniforms identical to the ones the rest of the station’s gem population were wearing as part of their natural physical forms.

“That was fast,” came Stevonnie’s astute observation as they looked down at the Blue Insignia uniform they were now wearing, their midriff exposed due to gem placement. “Well, I like it. There’s no frills, it’s easy to fight in. And.. I really love these boots! They just scream ‘space’!”

Lars on the other hand wore a full bodysuit with only his arms, chest and upwards exposed. “It’s.. pretty tight, right?” He asked, a little awkward. “I mean, I usually try not to look like a beanpole.”

“It’s not a fashion parade,” Stevonnie laughed.

Zee smiled. “What are you talking about? Sure, neither of you would ever in a million years pass for a perfectly-formed quartz soldier, but you look fine.”

Wy, who had popped in at some point to check on progress, shrugged at her friend uncertainly. “I guess they could get away with.. it. If they stay inside the Roaming Eye at all times.”

“Aw, what?” Stevonnie pouted. “We can’t leave the ship?”

“Well, let’s see.” Wy pointed at Stevonnie with a look unconvinced. “You look like a ridiculously off color something-or-other, no offense.” Then, pointing at Lars, she continued, “And you look like a runty off color rose quartz. With no gem! Also no offense.”

Lars folded his arms. “Believe me, none taken. But, nobody cared that I didn’t have a gem back when I pretended to be some kind of important captain on Homeworld and Upsilon IX. I.. guess everyone just assumed it was under my cape or whatever. Hey, can I get a cape?”

Stevonnie glanced sideways at him. “I never pegged you as a cape guy.”

He held up his hands defensively. “What can I say? It grew on me like a fungus.”

Zee shrugged. “Well, she’s right. If you’re hanging out with some Earth amethysts from the human zoo, that’s what you’ll look like.”

“So we can’t come?” asked Stevonnie sadly.

“No, you’re coming,” Zee smiled meaningfully at Wy. “We’ll play it by listener. I doubt anyone will be looking too closely at a couple of hideous off colors. All these fancy imperial colonial types expect most of us Earth quartzes from the Zoo to be defective anyway, so we’ll probably be okay.”

“Love the sound of the word ‘probably’,” mused Stevonnie with a tone of uncertainty, “But okay! Let’s do this!”

 

* * *

 

  
_Have a pic of some posers._

 

* * *

 

Stevonnie sat at one of the consoles in the bridge of one of the Zoo’s Roaming Eyes that had been assigned to the supply run. Unable to understand the alien symbols and writing on the screen, they had long since started staring out the window at the distant passing stars instead. The backpack and sword were both sitting on the floor at their feet and presently they reached down to pull out a protein bar.

Wy and Zee were crowding the pilot’s console talking amongst themselves. “We can’t avoid docking at the spaceport, we’ll need to go to the meeting place by gravity connector..”

“Hey Lars,” Stevonnie called with their mouth full. As Lars glanced over from his own starwatching, the Connie half of Stevonnie imposed her manners upon the fusion causing Stevonnie to hold up a finger for patience. Only after they swallowed did the fusion speak again. “Want a bar? We have lots.”

He shook his head at them, “I’m good.”

“I’ve never been to a colony before - what do you think it’ll be like?”

“They were saying Omicron V is a new colony, so.. maybe like Earth I guess?” Lars shrugged.

Stevonnie looked thoughtful as they chewed the last of their protein bar. “Hm. Peridot has referred to herself as ‘new’, but she’s still a few thousand years old. So are Dad Maheswaran’s favorite pair of slippers. I think the word ‘new’ can mean anything with gems.”

He smiled wistfully, suddenly opening up a little. “To be honest, I’m just hoping for anything that isn’t a dead husk with no atmosphere to speak of. I haven’t felt a breeze in..” He stared blankly out the window as he tried to add up the ill-defined series of endless sleepless cycles in his head, if they were even the same length as a day on Earth anyway. And then there was however long he’d been unconscious for - it wasn’t happening. “..Huh.”

“Oh! I know. It’s been about two months since you left Earth,” Stevonnie said, way too casually for his liking.

“..Damn,” he spoke quietly, eyes still glued on the vastness of space outside.

Stevonnie frowned at him before turning their attention down to Rose’s sword which was bundled up at their feet with the backpack. They grabbed it and slung it by the strap around their torso. Wy glanced back at them just in time to notice. “No swords,” she suggested. “It’s too suspicious. Put it back in your gem.”

“But I.. can’t? My gem weapon is my shield,” Stevonnie explained, disappointed. “What if we get into trouble?”

Lars cut them off by rising to his feet from the chair, eyes and hair glowing white as he extended a hand towards the hybrid fusion. “Stevonnie. Give it here.”

Stunned and mystified, Stevonnie held the sword by scabbard, handle-first towards him. He took it, hefted it up and a white glow appeared in the middle of his forehead as he slid it in. The sword disappeared as the glow in his eyes switched off. Suddenly he was aware of three other sets of eyes just watching him.

“Cool,” breathed Stevonnie. “You can do the forehead thing Steven told you about!”

Lars smiled a little. “Yeah, right? It’s made storing the stuff you, er, he keeps bringing me really easy.”

“So cool! Do you think I can grab it out through your hair?”

He furrowed his brow, curious. “Uh, I.. don’t know. Wanna try?”

Stevonnie smiled eagerly and jammed a hand in through his mohawk and felt around a bit. “Uhh..”

Lars winced, his head jostled as Stevonnie reached in further. “Ow, hey, c’mon guys!”

Stevonnie stuck out their tongue in concentration, blindly grasping around the undergrowth in the pink dimension. “No, hold on, I think I got it.”

Lars frowned harder the longer this went on. “I mean, I can summon it back just fine, it’s easier if I just do that-”

“No no, one more minute-”

He was losing patience. “Dude! You want me to stick my whole arm inside _your_ head sometime?!”

Stevonnie smiled happily and successfully pulled the handle of the sword out of his hair. “Oh, hey! Found it.”

“Careful!”

“Here, just let me just pop it back in..”

While all this had been going on, the amethysts had been watching in awe, and yet, intense confusion. Zee muttered, “That does it. Next human that dies at the zoo, I dibs crying on them.”

“Ew. Come on. We don’t even know if all quartzes can do that, or if it’s just a rose quartz-thing,” berated the other before glancing back at the console as an alert popped up. “Guys. We’re almost there. Have a seat. We’re about to exit warp.”

 

* * *

 

Omicron V loomed large in the viewport ahead of them - a blue and purple ball resembling Earth, complete with clouds, living atmosphere, oceans and massive continents. Lars smiled at the welcome sight of an alive planet, while Stevonnie gaped open-mouthed. “Wow, Steven! See that? So _cool_!” they enthused, forgetting themself briefly. This earned them an odd glance from Lars.

The planet quickly filled the viewport as Wy brought them in for descent. There was brief turbulence as they entered the atmosphere, but other than that it seemed to Stevonnie that gem spacecraft technology was pretty solid - at no point during their descent did they feel unsafe.

The planet’s geographic features rushed up fast into closer and better detail and all of a sudden they were able to make out the elaborate and glimmering signs of gem civilization amidst the lush purple vegetation that was still able to flourish on a gem colony in such early stages of development.

A splitscreen popped up on one side of the viewport. An orange gem’s face filled the screen.

“Approaching Roaming Eye - State your purpose.”

Zee opened her mouth to speak, but Wy jumped in to take over. “Amethyst Facet-5 Cut-8XY. Human Zoo supply vessel. This is a scheduled visit-”

The Citrine looked unimpressed and checked another screen before responding. “That’s fine. Dock at your leisure.”

The screen disappeared and Wy gestured at everyone. “Okay, we’ll be docking soon. As soon as we leave this ship - no talking. Especially you, Zee,” she pointed.

“What?” Zee asked, palms spread out innocently.

Tsking, Wy let her gaze linger a moment before smiling at everyone. “I’ll do the talking.”

“Isn’t this just some kind of standard supply run? Go in, pick up, leave?” Stevonnie chuckled. “It is, right?”

“Exactly right,” Zee affirmed.

Wy glared at her briefly before turning to the sort-of-humans. “So, remain in single-file formation. No slouching, don’t make visionsphere contact with anyone, especially if they look fancy or important, and step in time - remember; we’re just a bunch of lowly quartz soldiers, here to keep our sense-sponges down, gemstones clean, and perform our task. Now, let’s go.”

 

* * *

 

The small troop left the Roaming Eye and found themselves in a big open-air docking bay enclosed by lavish stone walls, surrounded by similar ships to theirs - Roaming Eyes, as well as a couple of other common smaller ship classes. It wasn’t busy. A small team of peridots were performing repairs on a ship nearby, and across the way some other small crew were beginning to disembark, but other than that it just felt to the humans like a Sunday. A massive, even more lavish-looking building stood tall nearby - the indoor docking station for much fancier ships that needed to be protected from the planet’s still very much alive, and often destructive, weather patterns.

They managed to leave the spaceport uninterrupted by the half dozen other gems they passed and Wy lead them toward a nearby warp pad.

Emerging from the light elsewhere on the planet, they found themselves in something that reminded the near-humans as something of a city, with expansive lavish alien structures and buildings, lit by a soft glow - it was night time here.

“Is this, like, a town?” whispered Stevonnie, following as Wy lead them down from the warp pad and into the street.

“Industrial center,” said Wy, fairly far removed from her usual cheerful self. “Keep it up, this way.”

She led them down several ‘streets’, then what reminded them of an alleyway back home, and outside the back of one of the buildings, there stood a yellow Topaz. Beside her, a massive crate. The Topaz eyed them warily as Wy ground her party to a halt in front of her. Stevonnie and Lars couldn’t help but regard this new gem with caution. Although her uniform and gem placement were different, being abducted by a certain cut of gem had really shaped their outlook on topazes in general.

“Greetings..” she lowered her voice, “From the.. Enclosure.”

The Topaz frowned and indicated the crate next to her.

“Oh, thanks,” smiled Wy.

The Topaz glanced at the entire party in turn, shrugged, and walked away. Wy turned back to her cohorts. “It’s fine - Topaz is just unusually stoic for a topaz. We need to carry this back.”

Zee picked up one side of it easily. “How good are you at lifting, Lars?”

“Uhh..” he stared at it uncertainly, but Stevonnie stepped in with confidence.

“Allow me,” the fusion offered, before hefting the rest of the thing up into the air.

Lars was impressed. “Damn, Stevonnie. You lift?”

“It’s all Steven’s gem side,” Stevonnie explained cheerfully as they began the walk back to the warp pad.

“Yeah, that thing has a lot to answer for..” Lars joked as they resumed walking.

“Here’s a question. How on.. this planet, are we ever going to fit something this huge through the door of the ship?” complained Stevonnie, quietly. “It’s gotta be wider than that little door, right?”

“The Roaming Eye is much bigger inside than outside..” mused Lars.

“Sure, it’ll fit _inside_ the ship no problem, but can the door change in size too?” asked Stevonnie, brow furrowed from thoughts.

“Shh,” came Wy’s insight from the front. “Step quickly,” she added as she glanced around uneasily. Then, she stopped them. “We should.. probably find another route.”

“What’s the matter?” asked Stevonnie warily, eyes glancing around. “Is there trouble?”

“No. No, no trouble,” said Zee, before dropping her voice and addressing the other amethyst. “Wy, how ‘bout this way? It’s not a shortcut, but..” Zee trailed off quickly as Wy began to snake the group around a different way that lead closer to a nearby forest.

Soon, trudging through the undergrowth in complete darkness, Stevonnie had an idea. They whispered it eagerly. “Can someone use their gem as a light? Or maybe - Lars? Can you do your glowy-eye thing?”

“No,” said Wy sternly from up front. “No light.”

The two amethysts held a sudden whispered conversion between them as they continued to walk at a slightly quickened pace. A sudden wind picked up and Stevonnie was forced to be on high alert as they and Lars stepped quicker to keep up.

“I think something’s gone wrong, Lars,” they whispered as their eyes began to frantically search the darkness around them for clues as to what was happening. Lars joined in as well, but couldn’t quite get a handle on what was going on.

Spooky alien forest in complete darkness - check, check, check. Creepy-ass wind rustling said forest? Check. But real danger..?

“Lars,” called Zee suddenly in a slightly louder whisper. “We need to be aboard the ship. Now. Do your thing.”

Lars snorted. The amethysts were screwing with them. Again. It was so obvious. “Guys.. This is a joke, right?”

Zee widened her eyes meaningfully. “Lars, we really need to go.”

Lars laughed quietly. “Pfft, c’mon. We all know you dragged us out here to scare us.” He noticed Stevonnie shifting the weight of the crate onto the top of their head before shoving a hand into his hair for the sword. He was jostled a lot by this. “Ack- Stevon- They’re lying-”

“Lars,” said Stevonnie quietly, drawing the sword from its scabbard while looking pretty freaked out. They slung the scabbard over their shoulder before taking the weight of the crate back onto their free hand once more, “We should go.” They held the sword at the ready.

Seeing the seriousness stamped upon their darkened features, he suddenly felt aware of much more than what he could see in the surrounding darkness with the wind battering away at them. This alien night had a feeling about it - a Doom - one that he couldn’t explain away as a prank anymore. Without another word, he created a quiet portal that lit up their surroundings with a soft glow. He lagged back a little as the others all took running leaps inside, long enough to hear strange non-wind-related noises from the foliage nearby, and a rough whisper in an unfamiliar voice that briefly rose above the wind; “Something’s happening, strange light-”

In an instant, he threw himself through the portal. Moments later, as a small but armed team of fighters descended on the location, all they saw was the dying glow of an unexplained light and, as they lit up the area in soft gem glow, they noticed four pairs of gravity-connector prints just coming to a stop in the dirt, soon to be erased by the wind.

The gems were incredibly creeped out by this mysterious occurrence, and promised each other they’d forget it happened as they failed to find an explanation.

 

* * *

 

Two amethysts, the hybrid fusion and the gemlike human stumbled out of the portal and into their Roaming Eye, along with the crate that they quickly dumped in the middle of the floor as the portal blinked out of existence. Lars was looking troubled - extremely so, as he glanced around the bridge of the ship at the others. He was trying to make sense of what he’d just witnessed on this ordinary, run-of-the-mill supply run.

Stevonnie was sheathing their sword. “What’s wrong, Lars?” they asked as they noticed his expression. “You look pale. You weren’t too scared, were you?”

Wy was already at the pilot’s console, intensely requesting permission to leave from the portmaster and going about the process of doing so when it was casually granted. After the link to the control tower disappeared from the viewport, Lars tried his best to speak calmly.

“So.. what’s in the crate?”

Zee strode over to gleefully pull the lid from off the crate. Lars, brow wrinkled, wandered over to crowd it alongside Stevonnie. As they both gazed inside it, they were very surprised to see a bunch of weapons and various other bits and pieces. Gem tech, all of it.

“This.. isn’t nutritious at all,” commented Stevonnie as Wy worked the pilot’s console to escape the planet’s atmosphere as quickly as possible. “I thought this was supposed to be ingredients. Did they.. get the order wrong?”

Lars, on the other hand, gasped and grabbed up a destabilizer. In any other scenario, he would have been excited. But as it happened, his voice was dripping with his own shot nerves. “I _also_ thought we were getting stuff for the things..”

“That’s why we wanted to bring you, in case things went bad and we needed an escape,” laughed Zee, her attitude heavily contrasting with the gravity of what she was saying. “This is all contraband. It was actually a very dangerous excursion.”

Lars frowned and went to place the destabilizer back down into the crate, but Zee stopped him. “No, keep it! You might need it someday. It’s a destabilizer. It disrupts-”

“I know what a destabilizer does,” said Lars irritably, holding the weapon limply in his hands. He glanced at Stevonnie and realized that this information sat on them as well in a super uncomfortable way.

“Wait, what?” blinked Stevonnie. “That’s not good! Why didn’t you tell us?”

“We just picked this stuff up off some gem black market?” Lars gaped at them as their expressions confirmed his suspicions. “You could have told us before we left! We were almost-”

Zee’s smile died slightly on her lips. “Well, you seem like a nervous wreck half the time. We weren’t sure how something like this would play out if you knew what was really going on.”

Lars paused, stunned for a second by this ill-timed info-dump. “..S-so why even bring me?!”

The reply was simple and entirely reasonable. “I just told you. Portal.”

Stevonnie opened their mouth to try to smooth everything over, but they were too late. Lars had become highly indignant. “I impersonated an imperial officer and infiltrated gem society on two different planets before I even knew I could make portals! That’s, like, basically unheard of for an organic dude!”

“Yeah, and now we believe you,” Zee smiled.

“Stop it, Zee,” hissed Wy as she elbowed her roughly. “I told you we should have been straight with them.”

“C’mon, Wy, I know I heard you agree that it would be funny. Look at their faces!”

Stevonnie looked awkward, and Lars was not in a mood to be placated swiftly. Wearing an extremely pissy frown, he stood as tall as he could and pointed straight at the two of them.

“No, this is bullshit! You both brought me along to be your getaway car without bothering to tell me what was up! You endangered all two- three- _whatever_ of us humans.. not to mention your long-standing tradition of taking pranks too far! I mean, you can prank all you like, but you need to be straight-up it matters. WE were about to get found, and I.. I thought you were lying to get a rise outta me!”

Zee stammered. “I-”

“Steven and Connie could have-” Unable to bring himself to finish his sentence, he placed both his hands on his head. He wanted to scream, he wanted to cry, but somehow the got his next words out without doing either.

“Maybe I’m highly strung for a reason. _Maybe_ it’s because every single member of my _last_ crew got poofed all at once, before some asshole quartz beat me almost to death trying to figure out why I wouldn’t.”

An awkward silence permeated the air. Stevonnie placed a hand on his shoulder, but he shrugged it off. The amethysts, towering head and shoulders above them, both felt small and terrible.

“Lars, I-I-” started Zee, but he cut her off.

His tone was lower now. “Stop. I’m just.. not trying to have a repeat of that. I am _not_ starting over again, somewhere else, just because you guys think it’s ‘funny’ to mess with me! So this is it. We’re either on the level from now on, or you guys can go fucking fuck yourselves. What’ll it be?”

The two amethysts exchanged embarrassed glances. Zee was fidgeting as she glanced down at the floor. “Lars, Stevonnie. I’m.. sorry-”

“Me too,” said Wy, jumping in. “We should have-”

Lars looked unconvinced.

Zee exposed her palms to the guy sheepishly. “Yeah. Listen, whaddayawant me to say? I.. we’ve spent thousands of years looking after the humans in the Zoo. We’ve only known your kind to be simple, delightful idiots.” She frowned. “But.. we know that you guys.. essentially, you’re humans, sure. But you’re all.. far more personable and complex beings than.. what we thought humans were.” She hesitated as a realization hit her. “As much so as any one of our own quartz kin.” Maybe there were more to humans than they’d realized. She scratched at the back of her arm in shame. “Look. Lars, Stevonnie.. so, maybe.. we don’t really treat you as equals. Maybe we.. we should change that.”

She exchanged glances with Wy, who nodded.

“We.. never expected to be friends with a bunch of _wild humans_. It’s new. But, we’ll try to be on the level with you, from now on.”

Stevonnie and Lars exchanged glances. “It tracks for me,” said Stevonnie.

Lars smiled a little. “Alright.. well, thanks guys. So.. I can really keep this?” he asked, raising the destabilizer aloft.

“Yeah, but be careful with it for stars sake,” said Wy.

“No problem,” he said, successfully jamming it into his forehead storage space.

“What about you, Stevonnie?” She asked. “You want one too? There are heaps here.”

“Oh, thanks! But no thanks. I’m more of a sword and shield type,” they replied, smiling.

Wy was looking relieved over at the controls. “Well, it looks like we got away with this whole thing - we’re homefree.”

“Oh no,” said Stevonnie suddenly. “What’s the time?”

Neither Lars nor the gems had a meaningful answer for them, so they knelt by their pack to dig around and shortly came up with Connie’s phone. They glanced at the time on the lock screen and promptly unfused.

“Drat!” said Connie, in her singlet and grabbing the oversized pants she was left with from the fusion before they fell down. Near her stood Steven in the crop top and his own underwear.

“I didn’t consider how awkward this would be,” he admitted while laughing.

“Well, time to part ways once again,” said Connie as she yawned, digging around for their clothes. “The whole thing was so exciting and scary, I completely lost track of the time. I was supposed to be home like a day ago! It’s halfway into a school day! Sorry if I don’t see you guys again for a while - I expect to be grounded for this.”

The gems and Lars averted their eyes as the humans got changed.

“Man, sorry, Connie,” Lars grimaced. “I hope you don’t get grounded for long.”

Steven, dressed now, embraced the taller kid’s legs in a hug. “Is there.. anything you wanna send back to Earth? For.. anyone?”

“Nope. I’m good,” replied Lars as he reciprocated by patting Steven on the back.

Steven frowned and looked as though he was about to say something, but Lars waved an arm around. “Oh no, wait, I forgot. Here,” he said and, from his glowing forehead, he summoned a piece of paper. Grabbing it, he pulled it the rest of the way out to reveal that it was actually an envelope, which he then passed down to the kid. Steven smiled and looked at who it was addressed to, and saw that it was for Lars’ parents.

“Oh! Uh.. Cool, your parents will be so happy to hear from you!” he paused. “Is there.. anything else? For.. anyone else?”

“No.” Lars appeared unassuming for a moment, but then his brow quickly furrowed with suspicion as he frowned down at Steven. “..Why?”

“Ah, no reason.” Steven failed to keep a touch of the disappointment he felt out of his voice.

 

* * *

 

Much later, back at the Human Zoo, Wy, Zee and Lars were watching as everyone was gathered in the docking bay where the quartzes had popped the lid off the crate. A bunch of them were excitedly going through the illegal goods contained within. Suddenly - a scream, and someone’s gemstone clattered to the floor as they destabilized. After a brief shocked silence, laughter.

“Whoops!” someone said.

Skinny could be heard shouting over the din, “Hey! I told you to be careful with those things!”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Clearly I think the Famethyst are basically dumb teenagers. What better gem-space allies can one ask for!? I love them.
> 
> It only took. _seven_. chapters. to get to the first mission! Am I writing too much garbage!?
> 
> I can’t promise I’ll do a pic for each chapter moving forward, but I.. kinda want to.


	8. The Visit.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> An ominous warning for Earth.

The place was havoc.

Blue Diamond had returned.

And Holly Blue was determined to relieve her burden, putting an end to her own suffering once and for all.

She hurried, struggling to get her story straight in her head as she made her way through the hallways for Pink Diamond’s chambers where she knew her glorious Diamond currently resided, waiting to be tended upon. She needed to emerge from this whole mess with her gemstone sparkling, untarnished - free from blame. However, upon rounding a corner she instantly found herself confronted by Skinny Jasper, Carnelian and several other very confident-looking quartz soldiers.

“What are you going to do, Holly Blue?” Skinny asked, frowning.

Holly stepped back, and before she could draw her weapon, Carnelian twirled a destabilizer around lazily in her hand.

“C-contraband! You quartzes know you're not supposed to - Where did you get THAT?” sputtered Holly.

“We have more avenues open to us now than you might realize, Holly,” smiled Skinny Jasper. “Whatever you’re going to tell Blue Diamond about - whatever in the stars that might be.. I want you to remember that you are inextricably implicated by now, and every quartz aboard this station will testify to that effect.”

Holly Blue looked as though her life was being stripped away.

“Your standing, your reputation, your value - all of it, diminished beyond repair. You may even be shattered, alongside the rest of us. After all, what is a single solitary agate to a magnificent Diamond?”

Holly frowned bad-temperately. There was nothing else to do but listen to terms. “What do you want from me, off color?”

Skinny frowned as well. “We want you do continue doing what you always do. Placate the Diamonds. Tell them nothing. I mean, I can’t imagine what you’d have to tell them anyway, since we’re all honest and hardworking quartzes here.”

Holly Blue narrowed her visionspheres at the insolent misshapen Jasper. “And if I do that-”

Skinny spread her arms wide. “If you prove useful, we’ll eventually let you go. Unimplicated. When the time is right.”

Baffled, Holly spluttered, “Unimpli- _How_ in the stars can you promise something like _that?!_ ”

Skinny looked her dead in the visionspheres, her own yellow irises gleaming brightly. “We will do our best. Swear on our gemstones that you had nothing to do with.. whatever’s not happening here.”

“I mean, good luck to you when you try to convince the Diamonds of that,” shrugged Carnelian with a chuckle. “But at least you won’t also have us all dragging your name through the human waste pit.”

Skinny cleared her throat as she tossed a quick glare at Carnelian. When she looked again at Holly, she was stern. “It could be that your value will take a hit, but we all know you’ll recover.” She softened her voice a little as she continued. “You’re ambitious, Holly. You’ll manage.”

Holly was torn, but there was nothing else for it. “I.. reluctantly agree to your terms. Get that thing out of my face!”

Skinny smiled pleasantly. “We don’t care how reluctant you are, as long as you do your _job_.” She turned to look at a couple of her escorts - two perfectly formed amethysts who could get away with being in the presence of a Diamond. “Amethysts, please accompany Holly Blue as she greets our Diamond. Just keep a visionsphere on her.”

 

* * *

 

It had been midday in the containment area, when the door opened and Zee entered. It was unusual for a gem to be present in the forest without an emergency going on, and the confused zoomans all leapt into the bushes, wishing to keep their distance.

She spotted her target. Lars happened to be taking his weekly sip of water from one of the lake’s many waterfalls. She waved and called over to him from the shore.

“Hey, Lars! C’mere!”

He had never seen her enter the containment area before - except for the one time during his crazy rampage - and here she was, looking anxious. All that in light of their recent agreement he assumed it was about something real - not just a prank. He swiftly ran over to her, ignoring all water-related laws of physics, and she explained the situation quietly. When she was done, his jaw dropped.

“WHY does BLUE DIAMOND want to see ME?”

Zee smiled nervously. “We all literally have no idea. She didn’t say.”

He blinked, thinking for a moment, and took a step back. “Oh.. wait. Good one, Zee, but you won’t make a fool of me this cycle.”

A silence passed between them as Zee stood, nerves evident on her features. Lars suddenly grabbed the much bigger gem by the shoulders, searching her visionspheres desperately. “Th-this is a prank, right? Tell me I’m being punked.”

But there was not a trace of deception on her features. She was as serious as she’d ever been. “That would be in violation of what we discussed several cycles ago! You can ask Skinny! She can’t believe it either.”

Lars swallowed hard. “But. C-can’t you like, tell her I.. I died, or something? Humans die all the time. It won’t sound suspicious at all.”

She nodded. “Yeah, we discussed that, and we totally will send someone to tell her that if you really need us to.. but-” Lars narrowed his eyes up at her as she continued, “-Blue Diamond has never done this before. A few of us were thinking you should.. just.. do it?” She smiled nervously. “We’re all insanely curious.”

Lars looked doubtful. “Ughhhhhh..”

“Look, you’re probably safe!” she said as she spread her hands out and smiled in what she hoped was a confident manner. “We already know Blue Diamond likes you, or she would have just had you shattered, uh, killed instead of having you brought here.”

“She only likes me in the way a gorilla likes a kitten, or how a small child thinks a butterfly is neat.”

She blinked, not understanding. “Look, Lars, we don’t think she’ll kill you if that’s what you’re getting at.”

Lars’ eyes were wide. “What if Steven jumps out of my head!? The Diamonds think he’s Rose Quartz! The little idiot even told them he was!!”

Zee shrugged, not overflowing with answers this cycle. “Just.. do your best?”

 

* * *

 

And so it happened that he came to be escorted to the gigantic and elaborately decorated pink chamber he’d only visited once before, completely by accident. He refused to break eye contact with Zee as she turned to leave, silently begging her to stay. In response, she glanced between him and the Diamond in a meaningful way, gave him a pretty weak opposable touchstumps-up before smiling nervously and leaving. He grit his teeth at her as the doors slid shut behind her. He then turned to gaze upward, feeling small. So small, especially in front of the gigantic Blue Diamond whom he now found himself in front of.

Or rather, behind, because she was facing away from him, mourning despondently on her knees atop the immense cushioned spread that lay at the top of a number of stairs. Encircling this area was a series of resplendent pink columns; above it, a dense concentration of floating, individually-bubbled rose quartz gemstones.

“Ahem,” Lars jumped violently as a blue-colored Pearl he hadn’t noticed before cleared her throat from over by the door. “My Diamond.. the pink human.” She prompted softly, tears spilling from her obscured visionspheres.

He ripped his eyes away from Blue’s Pearl to stare upward at the Diamond who wiped her eyes as she slowly and gracefully turned. Her hood moved softly with her head. “Oh. We.. meet again,” she said softly, gazing down with sad, dark-circled eyes.

Lars, struck by the vision of depression personified before him in a way he had been unable to appreciate the other two times he’d been in her presence, was unable to bring himself to say anything in response.

“Are you.. finding yourself looked after and safe here?” She asked softly, watching him. “It’s much nicer in here than being on the loose with those bad _gems_ you were caught with, isn’t it?” She nodded slightly.

He narrowed his eyes at the mention of his friends, but was too busy being terrified. “Uuh..”

She sighed softly, and turned back away from him to gaze out the viewing window once more. “Are there.. many others, like you, on Earth?”

His curiosity unexpectedly found his voice for him. “Like.. me?”

“You know.” She paused to sob briefly. “Pink humans,” she finished after she collected herself.

He stared upwards and, at length, shook his head. “N-no. Just.. it’s just me.”

She inhaled slowly, and pushed the breath back out with a sad, lingering despondence. “A pity,” she murmured. “I had hoped to acquire a breeding pair, before-” here, she cut herself off, sinking back into despair.

Lars was cringing hard, and when he realized she wasn’t going to say anything further, he asked a weak question. “Before.. what?”

She opened her eyes again, gazing out the window once more. “I.. shouldn’t be saying this to anyone, but.. the Earth..” She paused. “It won’t be around for much longer.”

The corner of one of Lars’ eyes twitched. “What.”

“There’s been a geo-weapon incubating in the Earth’s mantle for millennia. It’s overdue to emerge, and Yellow is becoming.. impatient. When she’s finished wearing me down..” She sobbed again. “Which.. she will. And, soon-” She paused to recollect herself. “I will go with her to see that it is done.”

Lars stared upwards, aghast, as gigantic tears rolled down her face.

“And.. I don’t understand it. I can’t bear to part with the Earth. I can’t bear to destroy Pink’s world, or these gems she made, or dismantle her beloved Zoo, or any of it.. Without her, I’m..” she sunk, and after a few moments, continued quietly. "If I help her get her weapon, maybe that will be enough. Maybe then she'll finally just.. _leave me alone.._ "

She brought a hand to her face, turned away from him once again and broke down once again. The blue Pearl hurried over from the doorway behind him to comfort her.

Lars glanced around, highly uncomfortable with everything that was going on. Of course it should have been obvious - he reminded her of Pink Diamond. He kicked himself for not having seen that one coming, but weirdly, this information made him feel slightly more bold. Perhaps a little less utterly disposable. He gingerly took a step forward. Then another. “Uhh.. your.. majesty?”

The Pearl stopped to gaze over at him, followed by Blue who needed an extra moment to collect herself.

“What is it, human?”

“..Excuse me. I-If you want to keep the Earth intact, shouldn’t you like.. just, talk to Yellow Diamond about it?” he shrugged a little, palms outward, fingers tense.

Blue Diamond widened her eyes at the presumption required for a tiny organic to tell a being as great as a Diamond what to do, but this also caught her off guard. “What.. I.. You.. surely you can’t understand. You’re just a simple organic.”

“Oh.. I-I..” he cleared his throat before continuing, attempting a thin veneer of confidence in his voice. “I used to bottle up my feelings all the time.. and it only made things worse. B-but then my friend convinced me to just talk..”

Great example, his anxiety cut in - Because in the end, he didn’t. And look where he’d ended up anyway.

“..And.. that’s what you should do, too. With.. Yellow Diamond,” he glanced away weakly as his whole thing there quickly lost momentum.

A silence passed.

“Hm,” came the result of Blue Diamond’s consideration as she turned her visionspheres away from him, out the viewport once more. The gas giant and its impressive ring system, as always, loomed large nearby, eternally indifferent toward the untold suffering taking place in this magnificent chamber in orbit.

The Diamond in the darkness; the reeling human. Hundreds of innocent rose quartz gemstones above them, bubbled forever.

Lars stood there nervously for what seemed like minutes, before the Pearl wandered back over past him to the door and opened it. “You may fetch your human back now,” she said quietly to Zee who had been stationed outside the entire time, and she stepped aside as the bewildered and tearful amethyst entered to escort the human out.

 

* * *

 

“What the stars _happened_ in there?” As soon as the door shut, Zee was quizzing him desperately while furiously wiping her visionspheres through clenched teeth. “I could feel her power from out here! I was in tears basically the whole time!”

Lars had his palms placed firmly over his own eye sockets for a long time and exhaled deeply as he wiped them down his whole face, as if attempting to cleanse himself. “Why the hell would she tell me all that _stuff_? Was it.. was she venting to a _pet_? Is this gonna keep happening!?”

“What did she say!?” Zee’s visionspheres were wide - she looked like she was about to explode and, from what Lars knew so far about gems, he considered it a possibility as he tried to calm down.

“She said..” He racked his brain. It was so overwhelming. “..The Earth’s going to be destroyed soon! By something.. uh, a geo-weapon? D’you know anything about that?”

“I have never heard of that ever in my life,” came Zee’s blank faced reply, completely stunned and appalled at the news.

 

* * *

 

Soon, having sprinted to the bridge, Lars and Zee stood in front of Skinny, who regarded them with pleasant surprise.

“Zee! Lars! Thanks for not portalling in unexpectedly.”

“..Crap. I forgot I could do that,” complained Lars as he caught his breath - which he did more out of habit than necessity.

“Yeah, yeah, me too,” Zee waved a hand around as if to dismiss the distraction.

Skinny folded her arms, looking them up and down, taking in their freaked-out expressions. “So.. the meeting with Blue Diamond. Report.”

Zee glanced up at the taller Skinny Jasper. “Captain! Do we know anything about a geo-weapon on Earth?”

Skinny tightened her lips in a moment of thoughtfulness. “Hm. Bea?”

From the comms console, Jasper 6TB could be heard muttering, “Nope, no mention of a geoweapon on Earth that I’m aware of. Can you tell me what it is?”

“She just.. said it was a geo-weapon,” started Lars, looking freaked. “It’s supposed to be able to destroy up the planet when it emerges, but it’s overdue to emerge, and she and Yellow are going to go make it happen. I dunno when! Soon, she said.”

Skinny narrowed her eyes. An unpleasant situation.

“That.. sounds like a huge problem. Bea? We need to get the Crystal Gems on the line as soon as possible,” said Skinny as she squinted at the other Jasper. She then turned back to Lars, looking thoughtful. “Hey, Lars. You’ve done a lot this cycle. If that’s all you can tell us, you can go if you need to. Leave it with us.”

 

* * *

 

Entirely worn out from the events of the day, Lars tried to take a shower to calm his nerves. He stood on the little lake’s surface, swim trunks (courtesy of one of his parent’s packages) on, underneath one of the waterfalls gushing from the little hill. Instead of washing himself though, he just stood there slouching limply, not really feeling the water rush down his body so much as the crushing weight of newfound nihilism bearing down on him as he tried, and failed, to remember the last time he genuinely felt happy. Thoughts of his home, that he hadn’t seen for so long, being destroyed kept coming back to him. As if in some rowdy mosh pit, they kept elbowing their way to the forefront of his mind as soon as he managed to push them back some.

Then, a couple of children fell out of his hair and straight into the water in front of him.

“AUGH. STEVEN.” Honestly. How dare they fall out of his head at a time like this. Then, he remembered that this was actually the perfect time for that.

The two kids splashed around, at first a little shocked by the unusual landing, but then as they realized what was going on they paddled around and started splashing each other. Lars glared at them deliberately.

“Hey Lars! Oh, whoops!” Connie blushed deeply and averted her eyes. “Steven,” she hissed. “He was having a _shower_..”

“Oh my gosh, sorry Lars!” He covered his eyes, and Connie splashed him. “Hey! No fair, I can’t see!”

Lars grumped at them with his face as he pulled a towel from his forehead. He stomped back across the water’s surface as he wiped himself down with it to the shore to pick up his tribal-styled upper garment from where he discarded it beforehand and put it back on.

The kids swam and then waded after him, following him back onto dry land. Connie pulled her backpack off and dug around inside it for a couple of towels, too. “Good thing I have a dry-bag in here..”

“What’s up, Lars?” asked Steven as he rung out his shirt. “It’s a beautiful day at the lake!”

“Are you.. mocking me, man?”

“What? No, no! Of course not. I just mean, why so glum?” Steven smiled apologetically as he and Connie toweled off.

But Lars couldn’t be placated. “Why were you _playing_ in the water? Haven’t you heard.. Bea was trying to call you! Do you guys just never answer your calls?!”

Steven raised his eyebrows, concerned suddenly. “You tried to call? Sorry! I was away with Lion picking up Connie so that we could come here.”

“I didn’t get grounded after all!” smiled Connie.

“Something wrong?” asked Steven, serious now.

Lars was suddenly quiet, glancing away briefly to figure out how to break the news. Looking back at the two kids, he decided that the bombshell method was best. “Guys.. uh, Blue Diamond.. was here. She talked to me.”

Instantly, the kids were all business.

“WHAT.”

“BLUE. DIAMOND..?” asked Connie.

“What did she want to talk to _you_ about!?”

Lars shrugged, glaring up at the fake sky. “Oh, nothing. She only wanted to know if there were any other pink idiots on Earth that she could cold kidnap before heading off with Yellow to destroy the entire fucking world, Steven!” He sounded angry, but looked more terrified than angry.

The kid’s eyes widened, and not only due to his use of the swear.

“Calm down,” insisted Connie. “Lars, just tell us what she said. Did she say how? Or when?”

“Something about a geo-weapon buried in the Earth’s mantle. The quartzes don’t know what that means - does it make any sense to you?”

Steven was alarmed. “Blue Diamond must mean the Cluster.. but, it’s bubbled! It.. it should be okay.” He looked very uncertain.

“What if the Diamonds let it out and..” Connie couldn’t bring herself to complete her thought.

Lars frowned, rolling his eyes a little. “Yeah, I figured out of anyone, you guys would know what it is. Blue Diamond didn’t say when, but it’s going to happen soon-ish.”

Steven’s jaw dropped. “Soon-ISH!?”

Lars spread his arms wide, a little calmer now that someone knew what was going on. “To be fair, she was very vague about everything.”

“Didn’t you try to talk her out of it?” asked Connie in a volume louder than she intended.

“Of course I tried! Do you really think some pathetic donut-slinger from Earth is just casually gunna talk a _Diamond_ down from committing planetcide?! Skinny’s up in the bridge with some others trying to figure out what to do. We should go join them - Skinny and Bea need to know this stuff so maybe it has a chance of being handled.” He hesitated. “..If I don’t end up having a home to come back to after all this is done, I’m going to be super pissed.”

“Right, right!” said Steven, nodding at Connie, who nodded back. “Lars! Portal!”

“Excuse you? Did you just presume to tell me to do something I was already going to do? How ‘bout I just let you walk there.”

“Pfft. Walking is for chumps. You don’t think we’re chumps, do you?” Steven asked sweetly.

“Not to-DAY!” replied Lars, shouting up a portal. The three of them leapt through.

 

* * *

 

Up in the bridge, Pearl, Peridot and Amethyst were looking frantic, while Garnet’s expression was mostly obscured by her shades. They were standing in the house at the temple, their image looming large on the viewport courtesy of the direct link they had established between the Zoo and their new and improved Wailing Stone-based communication setup.

“Yeah we know about the Cluster,” said Amethyst in a way too casual manner. “Sorry we couldn’t get back to you sooner - We were out fighting a corrupted sea monster that started attacking the town.”

“It’s a massive weapon made from the shards of broken gems by Yellow Diamond after Pink Diamond was shattered. It was supposed to be a long-burn punishment for the very planet _she_ perished on, as well as a new toy for Yellow Diamond,” Peridot was saying with an alarmed look on her face. “I knew it! They still want to get their use out of it!”

“The Cluster is supposed to be dormant, bubbled deep in the mantle,” Pearl explained.

“It is! I saw it!” exclaimed Peridot.

“Is it really possible-” here, Pearl turned to Garnet, “-That the Diamonds could just come along and.. wake it up?”

Garnet, arms folded in front of her, tightened her lips but was otherwise impassive and said nothing.

On the bridge, Skinny, Zee and Bea all looked solemn and ashen. “Stars. That’s.. horrible.”

“C’mon, The Cluster’s really not so bad,” said Steven, having exited the a portal with his friends in time to catch the last lines of conversation between the gems. “I can talk to it.”

“Oh! There you are! Hiiii, Steven! I can see you! It’s me, Pearl!” called Pearl as she waved, suddenly cheerful. “And hiii Connie! Is that the Donut Child with you too?”

Steven smiled and waved back. “Hi guys!”

“Wait - You can.. _talk_ to it?” asked Skinny, rather taken aback by the development.

Lars joined Skinny in her disbelief. “What the heck, Steven?”

“Well, yeah! It was set to emerge about a year ago. Pearl, Amethyst and Garnet were distracted fighting Malachite at the time - l-long story - but anyway, Me and Peridot went down to stop the Cluster, but I was able to convince it not to take form.” Steven glanced at Lars, “That was when we were having all those earthquakes, remember?”

The quartzes stared blankly while Lars nodded dumbly, stunned at the sudden dark backstory to that series of otherwise innocuous yet definitely memorable quakes.

“So.. wait, does that mean the Cluster is on Earth’s side too?” asked Skinny.

Steven and Connie exchanged glances. “Uh.. no idea,” shrugged Steven, sheepishly. He then frowned in thought.

“I’m of the opinion that we should assume it’s still a threat.” said Peridot.

“We don’t actually know that-” said Connie.

“Either way, we simply don’t have the numbers between us to fight a full-scale war against the Diamonds as well as a planetshatterer..” Skinny muttered.

Suddenly, Garnet raised a hand for quiet and shook her head. “We won’t have to. Steven. Bring us over,” she said. “I have a plan.”

A couple of minutes later, they were all on the bridge of the space station. Lars had needed to take a seat at one of the consoles after having had a handful of people jump out of his head yet again, while Bea had spun around in her seat to watch the goings-on in interest. The others stood in a rough semi-circle facing the captain’s chair, nearby which stood Skinny.

“We will start.. a rumor.” Garnet said simply.

A silence fell upon them, only to be broken by an incredulous Amethyst. “..Have you been watching a lot of Camp Pining Hearts again?” she asked.

Garnet held up a hand. “Amethyst. All we need to do is say the right words to the right member of Yellow Diamond’s court, and we can have her attention focused elsewhere.”

“This doesn’t feel like a.. comprehensive solution,” Peridot offered with caution.

“Correct. It’s not,” confirmed Garnet. “But it will buy us time.”

“You’ve seen that this will work?” asked Skinny with a deep interest.

“It’s a possibility we should all be focused on directing this situation towards,” came Garnet’s reply.

Steven was frowning, wringing his hands reluctantly. “No, wait,” he began, “Listen. If we do this, someone else could get hurt. What if there are innocent gems, or something else, living wherever we send her?”

“Hm. Well, if we don’t want any unfortunate third party to come to harm over this, we could.. create an imaginary enemy lurking off in some distant, empty sector of space,” volunteered Pearl, who smiled as she saw how much happier Steven seemed by the suggestion.

“It IS true that Yellow Diamond adopts a very hands-on approach when she feels it’s appropriate,” cut in Peridot with one visionsphere closed in thought. “She’d definitely go and deal with something like that personally.. provided it was made to seem bad enough.”

Skinny stroked her chin. “We can also be safe in assuming Blue Diamond won’t do anything involving the destruction of Pink’s Earth, without Yellow pushing her to it.”

Peridot looked concerned all over again. “So wait, we’ll expend all this effort engineering a situation where Yellow will be off somewhere chasing delicate colorful airborne insects, and meanwhile - what will we do? Sit around waiting for her to remember the Cluster is still a thing?”

Connie perked up. “Well, no. I’m sure we’ll have plenty to do. Steven can talk to the Cluster with his mind, for starters! Maybe he can try to reach it even though it’s in a bubble.”

“Maybe I can convince it to be on our side!” Steven was pumped.

Amethyst blinked and snapped her fingers. “Woah! Yeah! Maybe we can make it so that it won’t even be a problem if the Diamonds do come for the Cluster. Maybe the Cluster will fight them off for us!”

“Stop, stop. That’s a lot of maybes,” Zee waved her hands around suddenly, eyes wide. “But let’s go back to this ‘rumor’. You guys.. I don’t understand any of this! How do you propose we do this in the first place? Who are we even telling this to, and why in the stars would they ever, _ever_ believe gems like _us!?_ ”

A series of surprised stares ensued, during which Skinny baulked at her, Amethyst burst into laughter, Lars put his head in his hands, and Garnet cleared her throat, adjusting her shades meaningfully.

After a long moment, Zee suddenly got it.

“A Sapphire’s premonition,” she breathed, understanding at once. “Oh. Wow. You guys are smart! This is.. this might actually work!”

“Now that everyone’s caught up..” began Skinny, angling to say some more things before she found herself cut off.

“Wait, I know the perfect target,” said Zee, smiling cunningly.

 

* * *

 

  
_Have a Captain Skinny Jasper. Hmm. Needs more cape._

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Time for an Actual Problem :3


	9. The Lie.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Wherein the amethyst known as Zee, while well-meaning, has no tact. Also a mission takes place.

“Alright everyone, the Earth is in danger, just like every other week,” said Amethyst as she sat up on the back of one of the unoccupied chairs on the bridge of the space station. Pearl, standing nearby, glanced over.

“I wish you didn’t have to be so casual about these things,” she chided Amethyst.

Garnet was standing, leaned against the back of a different chair, arms folded patiently. Soon, everyone present turned to look at Zee, who had just returned to the bridge with Wy in tow.

“Uhh,” said Wy, noticing all visionspheres on her. “You all.. wanted to see me?”

Zee ignored her and addressed the room. “Wy.. and _I_ , we know a gem, a Jade, who we can go see.”

Wy instantly went wide-eyed and dark purple. “Zee - _Stop_!”

Glaring meaningfully at Wy, Zee lowered her voice at her friend. “This is relevant to the safety of the Earth..”

Wy waved her arms around frantically. “What?! What’s going on! I’ve been down guarding the docking bay, _alone_ , all cycle - so you have to forgive me if I’m feeling like I missed a whole thing here!”

One brief explanation of the situation at hand later, Wy was caught up and already shaking her head. “Wow.. But, again, no. We’re not dragging Jade into this-”

Pearl blinked. “You’ll have to catch us up now, too - who is this Jade?”

Zee explained. “There’s this Jade, she visits the Zoo once every century or so. She manages one of Yellow’s relatively-nearby colonies, Sigma III. Wy.. and I, we.. sort of, uh, know her a little better than most.”

Wy glared at Zee as the latter attempted to ignore her. Skinny slapped her knee suddenly. “Oh! I think I know the one. Shoulder gem. Short hair. Dark green. Green.”

Quailing, Wy blushed deeply as Zee smiled. “That’s her! Well, she’s apparently pretty tight with Yellow. If we go with Sapphire to tell a lie to her, she’s sure to repeat it.”

“Why Jade?” asked Wy, struggling to keep her emotions in check.

Zee felt for her kindergarten-mate as she looked her in her devastated face, she really did, but she continued. “She’s literally the only gem of any consequence in the Empire that any of us know anything about. We know where she is, and she’s close by, and - and, if, say, we get caught,” here, Zee lowered her voice in a meaningful way, “..there might be a chance she’ll go easy on us.”

Skinny raised an eyebrow. “Who is Jade to you, Wy?”

Wy’s cheeks had become a shade of deep purple by now. From her chair, a smile crept over Amethyst’s face as she got it. “Oh my gosh - Wy! You.. _dog_! You go girl, gettin’ you some o’ that green!”

“No! It’s not like that!” came some useless denial from Wy, whom Lars quietly considered his spirit animal at this particular moment.

Connie blinked at this. “You’re in.. love?”

Steven gasped. “Oh my gosh. Star-crossed lovers.. You literally come from different worlds - That’s so beautiful.”

Wy blinked hard at Steven, and then just looked confused at Skinny. “Wh-what.. Captain, I- I don’t see why we need to trick her-”

Zee sighed. “Wy, of course we need to trick her. She’s one of Yellow’s higher-ups, and you’re just an.. amethyst guard at the _Human Zoo_. We can’t really trust her! Not really.”

Zee knew she had gone too far and cut herself off with a look of guilt at exactly the moment that Wy lost her patience. Her cheeks turned a deep purple as she got up into Zee’s face with anger in her visionspheres. “ _You_ don’t get to talk about her like that! Why are you doing this!? I asked you to keep this between us, and now everyone in this room _knows_!!”

“Hey - I didn’t tell them anything! That was all you!” Zee tried to explain her point of view in the midst of an otherwise extremely awkward space station bridge in light of this outburst. A couple of other voices piped up to try to smooth things over.

Amethyst motioned towards her with a hand outstretched. “Wy, c’mon! Just chill. It’s fine,” she laughed a little. “It’s not like you’re the only one who’s ever been in love with someone-”

“Y-yeah, pfft, like, n-nobody even cares..” added Lars, wanting to be helpful but looking awkward himself.

Steven jumped up and ran over to her. “Wy - listen, it’s great that you’re in love! Love between any two people is a beautiful thing on Earth!”

“S-Steven!” She stammered, glancing around. “You don’t understand! I wasn’t MADE to be _in love!_ Us gems - we are punished for such-”

He gestured around the room. “Look around you! Do you see anyone caring?!”

“Wy,” Garnet held out a hand. “Nobody here is going to punish you for this.”

“Garnet’s right,” Skinny added. “We’re kind of just making our own rules now.”

“Guys,” said Steven, “I don’t think we should do this - We can’t endanger someone Wy loves. We should try to find another way-”

Wy sighed deeply. “No, Steven, look - when you consider the Earth and everything, it’s a.. smart play, I can respect it. But if you decide to do this, count me out. I can’t-”

“I think you should reconsider,” said Garnet, smiling coolly. “It will be better if you come along as part of the amethyst guard.”

“Is.. that some kind of premonition?” asked Wy, blushing again. Garnet nodded once. “Okay, count me in.”

“I’m in too,” said Pearl.

“Us too!” shouted Steven and Connie, raising their hands.

“ _Stevonnie_ can come as backup,” said Garnet. “And Donut Lars will be the getaway car if we need it.”

“I mean, sure, I can stand around looking pretty till I’m needed,” smirked Lars, earning a disparaging glance from Pearl.

Skinny sat at the captain’s chair, leaning her head on her arm. “Tssk.. You’ll all have to be extremely careful. It’s important to not draw attention to ourselves. The Zoo still has a cover we don’t want to blow just yet. The instant we out ourselves is the instant we lose access to everything the Empire has.”

“Noted,” said Garnet simply. “And agreed. But we will be fine.”

Suddenly, Peridot entered the bridge and held up the fruits of her labor enthusiastically. “Ta-daaa! Inspired by Earth tech, I gutted out some ‘ear phones’ and made them.. better! They’re short-range visually-subtle two-way communication devices now. They’ll help the mission in the extremely likely event we all get separated,” she laughed as she levitated a little ear thing to each one of them. “Now, those of you without human ‘ears’ will of course have to improvise, but it’s still quite an elegant solution, is it not?”

As she said her last word, she accidentally hit everyone in their faces with their earpieces prompting a chorus of irritated grunts.

“That was unintended,” came Peridot’s pseudo-apology.

“Wait - you guys don’t have _ears_?” asked Lars with intense curiosity, realizing at once that all these gems had their hair styled in such a way that he’d never bothered to question it before. “I mean, I know some gems don’t, and I guess ‘sense-sponges’ are also optional, but.. all of you!?”

“Rude,” said Amethyst as her gem glowed briefly. “I have ears for days!” she added as she pulled back her hair, revealing a multitude of ears jutting out of her head at all angles underneath. Lars cringed as Steven and Connie laughed.

“Gross!” said Connie.

“Amethyst, please,” said Pearl, a little exasperated as she nonetheless affixed the tool to the side of her head under her hair anyway. “We’re being serious here!”

Connie smiled as she put her ear bud in. “So. We’ve got stir this pot stealthy-like. Add in a pinch of intrigue. And voila. Subterfuge!”

“Subterfuge!” Steven enthused as Lars and Amethyst laughed at the funny, funny kids.

 

* * *

 

A handful of cycles later, Peridot smiled at the viewport as their Roaming Eye approached the Yellow Diamond colony of Sigma III - another hollowed-out rock the remains upon which a sprawling megacity was built. Lars, Stevonnie and Amethyst frowned up at it as they drew ever closer, their mood quickly contrasted by a patch of enthusiasm from Peridot.

“We’re so lucky! The basilica has its own small landing area for ease of access by visiting dignitaries from other colonies. Looks like we don’t have to be spread out all over the planet after all.”

“Land it,” said Garnet. A moment later, Ruby and Sapphire graced their presence once again. Steven ran up to hug them from the other side of the bridge as Peridot brought their ship down to land at small spaceport outside the colony’s governing basilica that had long ago been built into a floating island high up in the clouds. There were a handful of other ships there, which they hoped meant that there wouldn’t be many gems present awaiting an audience with the Jade this cycle, but there was also a warp pad nearby allowing easy access from each of the colony’s facets which made them slightly doubtful of that.

After a quiet pep talk and a last minute refresher of the mission and their roles in it, Amethyst shapeshifted into the bigger, bulkier version of herself, and Stevonnie and Peridot both wished them luck, and the door opened. Sapphire led the way, followed by Ruby, Lars and Pearl, and then the three amethysts. Three Topaz guards watched them without expression from the perimeter, but Sapphire breezed past easily, the rest of her entourage following along behind her.

The group of shameless imposters had no chance of becoming lost - the basilica rose up large from the other end of a path, along which there were massive stone statues of beautiful, important-looking gems. Not warrior gems, but peaceful looking beings. The members of the group stole glances at the statues where they could - but the expressions of contentment radiating from them sat largely at odds with their own general feelings of utmost urgency and lack of belonging.

They had been walking in silence until a familiar voice sounded over their earpieces.

 **Stevonnie:** Sooo.. How’s it going?

 **Lars:** We seem to be admiring art.

 **Amethyst:** Still alive. Don’t give us too little credit - it’s only been three minutes.

 **Pearl:** Come now. We need to keep this line clear for statements that are actually relevant to the mission. Of which there are none right now.

 **Amethyst:** Waitwaitwait, this isn’t Singles Party Hotline?

 **Lars:** Hah!

 **Sapphire:** We’re approaching guards. Quiet, everyone.

As they approached the lavish staircase that led up to the magnificent entrance of the basilica, they came upon a section of the pathway that was littered by groups of quartzes and others standing guard. They had sort of all been talking amongst their groups, but stiffened and hushed up as this newly-arrived entourage breezed past them.

Sapphire approached the entrance to the basilica, with Pearl and Ruby immediately in tow. The Topaz door guard allowed the first three entry, but blocked the way for the rest of them. Zee tsk’d while the others looked at each other with uncertainty.

Attempting to swallow a wave of anxiety at the sight of the topaz, Lars at least tried to weasel past. “Buuut-”

She silently narrowed her visionspheres, glaring deep into his soul. This assault caused Lars to quail but he thankfully found himself with Amethyst’s hand on his shoulder, being led back by her to stand alongside the pathway. They picked a spot somewhat apart from the other groups of guards.

“C’mon dude, leave it,” she’d muttered quietly.

As soon as they felt like they were out of earshot and no one was looking at them, a whispered conversation took place over their frequency.

 **Ruby:** Damn damn damn-

 **Amethyst:** Uh, just so everyone’s caught up with the play - the getaway car didn’t make it in.

 **Stevonnie:** No!

 **Peridot:** Unfortunate..

 **Pearl:** I knew it - It was his outfit. He didn’t look important enough.

 **Lars:** Sorry..

 **Stevonnie:** Aww no! What happens now?

 **Sapphire:** No need to be sorry. We continue as we planned.

 **Lars:** I kinda got a glance in? Pretty sure I can punch a portal in there if you need one.

 **Sapphire:** We should be fine, assuming no other surprises.

There was really nothing else to say, so the group just accepted their place among the others that were being made to wait outside for their managers and bosses. They stood in their own groups, looking guard-like but still quietly chatting amongst themselves, subtly regarding the only Blue Insignia-presenting guards present.

“Well, at least it’s a nice cycle this time,” observed Zee, wanting only to break their awkward silence.

“Sigma III doesn’t have as much weather as Omicron V. Jade told me it’s always like this,” murmured Wy.

“Are we really standing around here on some floating rock on an alien planet, our lives in danger, all just.. chatting about _the weather_?” Lars asked with a touch of disbelief. “This is just as boring as my job!”

“He’s right! Since my life is in danger anyway, I wanna know more about this Jade,” said Amethyst casually. “Aw, it’s too bad we’re not getting a chance to see her. What’s she like?”

“Green,” smiled Zee, earning herself a whack from a grumpy Wy.

 

* * *

 

Sapphire, Pearl and Ruby entered the Basilica’s inner sanctum. The chamber was cathedral-like - vast and beautiful yet sparse, complimented by yellow-dominated geometric design work synonymous with gem architecture around the walls, ceilings and floors, with several elaborate doors leading off to the side.

The only furniture was set up in the center of the room in front of a delicate fountain. And there sat the Jade - a rather solemn-looking being with a bow in her dark green hair and her gem on her shoulder. She was seated, working diligently at a screen as she consulted quietly with some fancy-looking dignitary or other. She had a bureaucratic feel about her as her pastel green Pearl stood to attention off to the side, eyes closed, nose up.

Glancing around, they realized that there were a number of other fancy-looking groups of gems waiting to see her. “We should.. wait in line, I suppose,” said Pearl with a disappointed look upon her features. Even though she spoke respectfully and quietly, the echoes of her words bounced faintly off the walls, but thankfully no one paid notice.

They followed Sapphire and stood along the edge of the room where they determined the end of the very vague line to be. They stood silently, impassively, for minutes on end.

The frequency had been been clear for a long time when a voice popped out of the silence.

 **Stevonnie:** Uh, is.. everyone okay?

A chorus of quiet “yips” sounded off in reply to the question.

 **Stevonnie:** Oh. Good. It’s just.. been so quiet.

 **Sapphire:** Be patient. Jade has a lot of appointments waiting to be seen. We’re at the end of the line.

 **Wy:** Do.. you see her? How is she?!

 **Pearl:** She seems.. uh, fine? She’s very.. green.

 **Stevonnie:** How long will it take?

 **Pearl:** Who knows? Colony managers don’t tend to rush. Didn’t you pack your board game? Maybe Peridot will play with you.

 **Peridot:** Opt-out.

 **Stevonnie:** Pearl, this is a serious mission. I’m not going to be caught out playing Shoots and Ladders if something happens.

 **Lars:** Stevonnie - chill out. Nothing is happening.

 **Amethyst:** Shh, someone’s coming.

 

* * *

 

“Hey, you amethysts,” began a Jasper who had until presently been standing outside with a different group, displaying the Yellow insignia. She was now standing alongside the three amethysts and human. “Me and the rest of my troop are having an argument. Settle it for us.” It was more of an order than a question.

“Uhhhh, sure thing, Jasper!” smiled Amethyst, collecting the uncertain looks of all three of her cohorts. “What is it?”

“What is _that_?” She asked directly, without tact, pointing a touchstump at Lars, who stiffened suddenly.

“Uh, are you talking about Pink Amethyst?” asked Amethyst, making a show of frowning amid quizzical glances from her cohorts.

“That’s me,” said Lars, taking the cue and trying to smile. “A regular old Pink Amethyst..”

The Jasper looked uncertain. “That.. sounds made-up. A pink quartz just sounds like it should be a-”

“Well, he.. haha - _she’s_ certainly not a _rose_ quartz,” said Zee quickly. “Can you imagine one of those just, uh, walking around? On her gravity connectors? As though it hasn’t been incredibly illegal to be a conscious rose quartz for like five or six thousand years? No no, Pink Amethyst here is _definitely_ a pink amethyst.”

“Yeah, we know each other from way back in kindergarten, even,” offered Wy.

“Our exit holes are side by side,” added Amethyst.

The Jasper narrowed her eyes. “Pink Amethyst. Hmm, all right. Scrawny and strange-lookin’, though.” She shrugged. “I guess Blue Diamond is content to just cling blindly to _any_ of Pink’s old things.”

There was a silence - a prolonged awkward moment or two during which neither Lars nor the Amethysts were sure which way this was going to go, but presently the Jasper nodded in perfect understanding. “Well, I appreciate your time.”

As she left to head back over to stand with her own cohorts, the faux-Blue Insignia rebels breathed heavy sighs of relief.

“Pink’s _things?_ ” asked Lars quietly, bewildered.

“That’s so rude,” agreed Amethyst.

Wy and Zee merely shrugged. That sort of thing was as normal and natural to them as the weather was on Earth.

 

* * *

 

 

The frequency had been clear once again for quite some time. Hours, perhaps. With the absence of anything interesting going on, Stevonnie and Peridot had been lounging around inside the Roaming Eye. The hybrid fusion sat with their feet up on what could be considered the dashboard, half-eaten protein bar in hand. Peridot sat on the back of one of the other chairs in a casual way as she had been Amethyst do on multiple occasions. Stevonnie was listening with interest to what she had to say.

“Futhermore, I said, improv should be less ‘yes, and’ and more ‘no, but’.”

Stevonnie thoughtfully swallowed the last mouthful of their protein bar and considerately packed the wrapper back into their backpack. “But that defeats the purpose of improv. The whole idea is to collaborate together and build a story from nothing, not squabble among yourselves,” they countered. “I feel bad for poor Jamie. Are you sure you weren’t just in a mood?”

Peridot pulled a face. “A _mood_!? Stevonnie - I, Peridot, am a purely rational being. I am not a prisoner of _moods_.

“Yeah, but ever since Lapis took the barn-” Stevonnie swiftly muzzled themself with their hands. Peridot folded her arms at the unwelcome reminder.

“Oh.. Oh no, sorry Peridot.”

“No, it’s.. fine. Lapis is thousands of years old, basically what you’d call an ‘adult’ in human terms. She made her decision to leave - I respect it.” She hesitated a little, glancing to the side. “..If only because I have no choice but to do so. Either way, there’s nothing more to be said about it.”

Stevonnie glanced out of the viewport just in time to see a shady figure dart past. They had been about to say more, but instead they straightened in their chair.

“Hey - what was that?”

Peridot turned to look. “What was what?”

Stevonnie sat up for a better look. “I don’t know. Ugh, I wish the window was bigger.

After swiping around the control screen a few times, the walls of the Roaming Eye around them appeared to become transparent. The suddenly had a clear, 360 view of the landing bay around them. Stevonnie baulked. “Ah! What are you doing!?”

But Peridot wasn’t worried. “Oh, relax. You can’t see _in_. You really think that I - Peridot - would make such a cloddy misjudgment? Allow me to throw back my head and laugh.” She did so. “Hah!”

Stevonnie had been preoccupied through this, and pointed. “There! What is that!?”

A strange-looking gem, of a kind Stevonnie had never seen before, was sneaking around, attempting to break into one of the ships parked nearby. Peridot frowned as the furtive gem outside gave up on the ship next to theirs. The strange gem turned a certain way, and they could see not one, but two gems upon their physical form.

“It’s a fusion!” Stevonnie raised an eyebrow. “Looks like they’re attempting to commit grand theft auto, but with spaceships?”

“The door is locked,” said Peridot. “Let’s just.. pretend we’re not here.

All of a sudden, a topaz descended on the gem, who shrieked and dodged the crashing of her mace. Stevonnie jumped up, grabbing their sword, which Peridot noticed immediately.

“Wait! What are you doing!”

“That fusion needs help! She’s just another poor cross-gem off color trying to escape this place - we have to do something!”

Peridot was bugging out big time. “You’re going to fight a topaz, on her own turf, for a strange permafusion you don’t even know? Are you insane!?”

“Peridot. It’s.. just one Topaz. And yes, I’m super insane for this stuff,” they said, a moment before opening the door.

“Argh! Fusions!” cried Peridot in frustration, but she had no choice but to follow them.

 

* * *

 

Sapphire had been standing with Ruby and Pearl for interminable hours. The two with visible eyes had them closed, patiently.

Finally, the audience they so patiently sought opened up to them. Sapphire gathered the front of her skirts slightly. “Wait here,” she told them.

Ruby hit her communicator’s button, and whispered quietly.

 **Ruby:** Okay, Sapphire’s up now.

 **Wy:** Oh no, oh stars, oh no,

 **Lars:** Wy, stop it.

 **Ruby:** What? What’s wrong?

 **Zee:** It’s nothing, haha. She’s nervous.

 **Ruby:** Aw, that’s really sweet.

 **Amethyst:** That’s what I said!

 **Zee:** Cute right?

 **Ruby:** Heh. It is!

 **Wy:** Stooooooop

 **Zee:** I know huh - hey! Lars! Stop hitting me and stop telling me to be quiet!

 **Pearl:** Please. Please stop unless it’s critical to the mission.

 **Amethyst:** Good luck Sapphire!

Ignoring the bullshit going on in what had effectively become little more than a weird whispery chatroom in her listener, the small blue gem approached the Jade’s desk, hands clasped demurely in front of her. The Jade looked down at her, studying her.

“Grand Clarity,” she said, surprised to see a Blue-aligned Sapphire in her chambers. “How may I serve?”

“Deepest Jade. It is rather I who may serve you and Yellow Diamond.”

Behind her, Pearl stood with her eyes closed, nose held high. Below her, Ruby was seething.

The Jade studied her. “What is the concern at hand?”

“I’ve had a startling vision of the future. I came as fast as I could to the one gem Yellow Diamond would listen to.”

Jade immediately turned a slightly darker shade of green, and Sapphire knew that things were going extremely well - just as her premonition had shown her.

 

* * *

 

The off color had been grabbed. Stevonnie’s eyes widened as they drew their sword and shield. The last time this had happened, Steven and Connie had fought two topazes and didn’t really win, as such. This time, there was only one, and they were feeling pretty confident that together, they could-

Scratch that. There were four others approaching. Behind Stevonnie, Peridot yelped in surprise.

“What is that?” One of them suddenly vocalized, disgusted.

Another frowned and raised her mace. “Another off color - Get it!”

They all attempted to rush Stevonnie, who was also currently dealing with trying not to be distracted by the bullshit going on in their ear. To their credit, they fought, but one of the topazes quickly managed to grab them and hold them still, while another relived them of their sword.

Below them, Peridot was livid. “Let them go you oversized sunflower with arms!”

She made a point of picking up a Roaming Eye that wasn’t theirs using her metal powers and attempted to smash it down onto one of the topazes. She topaz jumped out of the way, but lost the fugitive gem in the process, who sped off in terror.

Another topaz picked Peridot up by her head. “AGH! NO! Lemme- lemme go!”

 

* * *

_Here, take a bunch of people freaking out._

 

* * *

 

Shortly, the waiting guards looked up down the pathway as a commotion approached. Everyone there was soon presented by the pleasant sight of some obvious defects being carried aloft to the basilica. The quartzes around them hooted and hollered, except for our faux Blue Insignia crew.

All of their expressions were that of shock and disbelief.

“Oh my WHAAT” came Amethyst’s dismay.

“What are we gunna do!?” hissed Wy.

Zee is all “Is that.. Stevonnie and Little P?”

“Who else could it possibly be!” Lars then touched the button on his ear-thing and began to frantically yet quietly narrate what he was seeing.

 **Lars:** Here’s your emergency - A topaz has Stevonnie and Peridot! They’re being dragged up the basilica stairs - Oh shit - Amethyst is going to fight the topaz. Ohhhh fuck! They’re fighting now. Also, should’ve mentioned, five of. Also? Still surrounded by other guards. Whadda we do!?

In the basilica, Sapphire stopped mid-sentence. Pearl had become restless, glancing at the door. Ruby, shaking uncontrollably with a look of pure fury on her face, suddenly touched a stump to the button on her communicator.

 **Ruby** : FIGHT THEM.

Outside, the other two amethysts frowned and quickly joined the fray. Lars swallowed hard before summoning his destabilizer via his forehead.

Back inside, Ruby realized her massive faux pas as her scream echoed endlessly off the walls of the otherwise silent chamber, and the three Crystal Gems found all visionspheres in the room were fixated on them.

Jade also looked up from Sapphire, wide-eyed and brow furrowed. “What is.. going on?”

Suddenly, the door burst open. Five topazes, as well as the topaz who had been guarding the door, burst in. Stevonnie was still held aloft by one of them - they were struggling to get free, while Peridot who had been shaken loose at some point was running around, whipping any stones or pebbles with metallic content that she could at them, while also attempting to fight their knees. The amethysts were having a better time - Amethyst managed to restrain one of them with her whip and was working on poofing her, while Wy and Zee spin-dashed a couple of them into a downed position. Lars, who wasn’t a strong fighter, was just kind of dithering around alongside Peridot, occasionally attempting to strike out with the destabilizer in his hands, but too afraid that it would instead connect with one of his friends for him to be useful.

To top it all off, all the guards previously waiting outside were also present, having followed the strange display with a deep curiosity.

Pearl gasped and summoned her spear, dashing headlong into the fray as Sapphire began to double back in order to fuse with her Ruby who was literally shaking with worry and rage.

The dignitaries and subjects all stepped back, gasping, to hug the perimeter of the room as the fight spilled out onto the floor in front of them. Jade merely frowned, and stood up. With a deft movement, she whipped the incognito immobilization wand from her hair, straightened it out, and with a flick of her wrist almost effortlessly immobilized everyone involved in the fight who wasn’t a topaz with a tractor beam, and lifted them all up a few feet in the air. Sapphire and Ruby had been within two meters of re-forming Garnet when it struck them.

At the last second, Jade caught sight of Wy, who was spared from the tractor bubble chain.

The fighting stopped instantly.

“WY!? W-what is the meaning of this!?”

“J-Jade!” shouted Wy, unable to do much else. “Please!”

An expression fell on Jade that appeared to be a cross between fury and confusion. “ _What!?_ ”

Wy was intimately aware of all the many, many witnesses present. She attempted to convey the urgency of the situation through her visionspheres. Perhaps it worked; Jade, hesitating, began to feel as though she were caught between a rock and a hard place. She tightened her lips, considering the mess in front of her. After a moment, she’d come to a decision. “Everyone who is able to - go and wait outside,” she ordered. “I will deal with this myself.”

Like a tidal wave, the topazes, subjects and dignitaries all evacuated the premises, leaving only Wy, the poor souls trapped immobile in the bubble chain and Jade’s Pearl, who remained motionless where she’d always been by Jade’s chair, observing.

Wy took a cautious step forward towards Jade, palms exposed. “It’s about the Earth.”

“The _Earth!?_ ” Jade was incredulous.

“Yeah. We’re trying to save it.”

“Have you cracked your gem!? The Earth is a lost cause! It was destroyed five thousand years ago. I know you know that!”

“Yeah, but it wasn’t! That was a lie! All of my friends here - not Zee - live there! It’s going to be destroyed soon.. and we’re trying to stop it!” Wy said as she gestured to her helpless friends.

Jade looked strained as she hunched forward, threading her touchstumps through her hair. “Is.. it true? The Earth is still around?”

Wy waved her arms around, “Can you just.. let my friends go? They’ll be good.”

For a long moment, Jade was the strained focus of attention of all the gems and humans immobilized in the bubble chain. Jade’s face betrayed a struggle within herself, and she frowned as she flicked her wand back to release the chain. The bubbles popped instantly, causing everyone who was trapped to fall to the floor. Stevonnie landed hard on their butt as their sword clattered down next to them, but their fusion held form. A chorus of groans rang out.

Wy was all “Everyone! Just.. hang out here, okay? Don’t go anywhere. Give me a moment with Jade!”

Amethyst threw up a peace sign as she shook out her hair. “Go nuts.”

“Sure thing,” said Lars, spread eagle on the floor, sparking destabilizer still in hand.

Jade indicated Wy to follow her and she led her across the room to a doorway. Through it, a balcony. The door slid shut behind them. Jade walked over to rest herself against a railing, looking out over an immense facet dominated by cityscape.

“Wow,” said Wy, impressed with the view. “Jade, I just realized - This is my first time visiting you here. It’s.. beautiful.”

Jade was dejected. “This? ..It’s _nothing_ compared to what it used to be.”

“Oh?”

Jade blinked sadly, sinking into herself as she spoke. “There used to be flowers. There aren’t anymore.” She lowered her voice. “I hate it here. But don’t derail this - what are you doing here?! What was.. all that!”

Wy swallowed hard. “We came here.. to get you to tell a lie to Yellow Diamond.”

“What..” Jade was hurt and confused.

Wy walked over to join her, also leaning on her forearms against the balustrade beside her. “I’m sorry we tried to deceive you. I would have tried approaching you directly but we have so much at stake, and the others were sure you’d just turn us in. And I went along with it because.. despite everything, it’s the right thing to do. I knew you would agree with the thought behind it. I know how much you loved the Earth.”

“And you came all this way to get me to lie? To my own Diamond?! Amethyst! What are you thinking!”

“No, you’d just be reporting a Sapphire’s prophesy. Sapphire is the liar in this scenario. You’re just the.. patsy.” She frowned and rubbed a hand down the side of her face. “Oh, stars - Jade. I’m so sorry. I just realized how terrible that sounds.”

She frowned as her little listener-phone jumped back to life once more.

_Zee: Wy? Wy! What’s going on!? Are you winning? Are you losing?_

Wy grimaced in annoyance, grabbed the thing and crushed it in her hand as Jade gazed down at the bustling megacity below.

“You’ve placed me in _such_ a difficult position, Amethyst.”

Wy reached over to lay her hand on Jade’s. “Isn’t that usually how it is with us?”

A moment of silence passed between them, during which they made visionsphere contact and the crushing weight of their vastly different lives was suddenly not such a burden. Then it was, once again.

Wy’s voice was small. “Listen, I can explain every-”

But Jade raised a hand, cutting her off. “No. Don’t explain. I want plausible deniability-” she sighed deeply, “- _when_ I do this thing for you.”

“Jade,” she breathed. “Y-you won’t regret it. I promise. We’re trying to make Earth safe, and if we do, maybe-”

“-We can be there together,” Jade smiled softly, gazing up at Wy. “I mean, actually together. Like we talked about.” She blushed, and leaned against her, and murmured. “We could even.. you know..”

“What? ..Fuse?!” Wy hesitated. “I mean-” She blushed deeply, putting an arm around her paramour. “We _could_.. but only if _you_ want to.”

Suddenly, Jade laughed. “Who even are your friends back there? You did well to befriend a sapphire and I am impressed by the fact she has a pearl, but how’d you ever pick up that yellow Peridot? And who are those two funny-looking ones? Are they.. supposed to be quartzes?!”

Wy smiled slyly. “I thought you wanted plausible deniability?”

“Well.. maybe you can tell me everything once we’re safe on Earth.”

 

* * *

 

“Yeah, so, still not a fan of topazes. Yellow hurt machines they are,” Amethyst muttered at Stevonnie as they awaited Wy’s return.

“Sister, I know that feeling. They’re just too solid,” replied Stevonnie as Pearl considered Lars nearby, who was narrowing his eyes back at her with nervousness.

“Hm.” Pearl began. “If you’re going to be coming along on missions, we’re going to have to get you trained.”

Lars was alarmed. “Huh?!”

Pearl gestured toward him as she explained. “You have one of Homeworld’s most advanced pieces of weaponry, guaranteed to disrupt a gem’s physical form on contact, and you didn’t even land a single strike. You may as well have been whipping your human donuts at them from three miles away.”

“I’m more of a portal guy these days.”

“Still, some basic fighting skills wouldn’t go amiss.”

“WOO!” Stevonnie enthused, having overheard. “Space station training with Lars! Which is.. a series of words I never expected to say.”

Zee glanced over. “Stars, I feel like I could stand to do a little training. It’s been a long time since any of us at the Zoo last saw real action. I felt like I coulda done better. Love your moves, Em.”

Amethyst laughed. “Oh, stoooop. You were great! I never coulda taken down a topaz using dash alone.”

Ruby and Sapphire were holding hands, talking quietly together as Jade’s Pearl gazed impassively at all of them through all this.

The crowd of gems and humans who had been waiting inside suddenly quietened and stiffened as Wy and Jade at last re-entered the room. Visionspheres all around were wide as saucers awaiting the outcome of their discussion.

But it all seemed okay as Jade turned to Wy. “Don’t worry about all this. I’ll do what you’ve asked. I’ll tell all the witnesses that I poofed and bubbled you all for later judgment from the Diamonds. They’ll believe the matter resolved, and no one will follow you. There’s a back way out. If you’re careful, you can make it back to your ship.”

“Wow, thanks!” said Peridot, earning an odd glance from Jade.

Sapphire took a step forward. “Forgive us, Jade, for-”

Jade held up a hand. “No need. In another world, I would be right there with you. But for now, you all should go. If you follow me, I’ll show you were you can-”

Lars barked up a portal. Jade stopped short, having never seen anything like that before.

“What is.. that?”

Wy kissed her. “Plausible deniability, am I right?” she said as she gave her a final hug before at last joining her cohorts as they flung themselves through the portal.

Jade stood still for a long moment in the suddenly quiet, empty room. Her Pearl glanced over. “My Jade? Do you.. need anything?”

She cleared her throat. “Pearl, if you would, please humbly request a remote audience with Yellow Diamond at her next available convenience. In the meantime, I want you to invite everyone back inside.”

“As you wish, My Jade.”

 

* * *

 

Much later, Lars opened the letter Steven passed him before the Crystal Gems had said their goodbyes and left, and grabbed a quick glance at it while he was still standing in the docking bay of the Human Zoo.

 

 

> Hey Lars!
> 
> You haven’t written me back yet, which is cool! I guess you don’t have paper or pens? Maybe gems don’t need that stuff because they’re way more technologically advanced than us. Heck, humans barely need that stuff anymore either, don’t we? But it seems like the easiest option for talking to you in private. Speaking of, your phone is waiting for you in your room at your house, if you are wondering. Maybe you dropped it when those gems abducted you - it was handed into the police after being found in town somewhere and someone was able to figure out it was yours. Your mom said it looked like there’s heaps of missed calls on it. One of them is probably our mutual ex-boss, firing you for not turning up for like a month, el-oh-el. Screw that guy. Looks like we’re both free now.
> 
> Whoops, always with the rambling.
> 
> Anyway, I asked Steven about the paper/pen situation though and he looked horrified. He’s a sweet kid. I told him not to worry about it and included some of that stuff in this envelope along with this very letter. Is that meta? Am I being meta right now?
> 
> .. I don’t think it’s meta.
> 
> Hope you’re taking care.
> 
> Miss you.
> 
> Sadie.

 

And sure enough the rest of the contents of the enlarged envelope were.. pens and blank sheets of paper. He thought to himself, quite glumly, that they would match nicely with the rest of the stationery Steven had given him a while back, all of it currently languishing uselessly in his head.

Why couldn’t he just.. write a fucking letter..

He furiously wiped an eye, shoved the letter back in the envelope, and shoved it all into his forehead. Then, when he yelped and quickly realized he’d forgotten to flip the switch for the magic part of it, he tried again and put them away properly. Rubbing his forehead even though whatever pain there had been already faded, he then joined his buddies over by the door.

 

* * *

 

Not long after having seen Connie home, Steven, now dressed in his classic banana pajamas, hopped into bed carefully in order not to disturb Lion or Cat Steven who were both sleeping away on top of the duvet. He rolled his eyes at the much larger cat - it was common knowledge now that Lion didn’t _need_ to sleep, and yet he did (or, at least, pretended to) at any given opportunity.

With the help of the white noise app on his phone, he was quickly shuffled off to sleep in the absence of any other distractions. He held a thought in his mind as he was dragged beneath the waves of sleep to speak with the Cluster.

The Cluster. It was before him, looming large in the sleepspace in front of him, shimmering, glowing, exactly how he had left it about a year earlier - in a colossal bubble.

“Hi, Cluster! It’s great to see you again,” he began, eyes wide. “Do you remember me? I’m Steven. Steven Universe? We spoke once before, a while back, when you were trying to take form against your will..”

He hesitated. Nothing. He cleared his throat.

“Well.. I hope you can hear me. I wanted to talk to you about the Diamonds. We’ve managed to postpone them, I hope, but.. they’re going to be coming for you at some point. I’m sorry, I don’t know when. I.. wanted to know what you thought about that.”

The Cluster remained peaceful. Still.

Steven frowned. “A-and I wanted to ask.. if you could please just.. be on Earth’s side?”

Bubbled, dormant, the Cluster said not a word in response.

“Can you, uh, do that?”

Only silence - the loud sort - as the vision of the Cluster began to slip away from him.

“ _Please,_ ” the boy breathed as he started suddenly awake in his bed. The cats, otherwise unmoving, both glanced over at him; not in a curious manner, but in more of that feline annoyance with which nobody really likes to admit they’re familiar. He touched his fingers to his cheek, realizing he’d been crying. He wondered what the Cluster’s apparent reticence could possibly mean.

Maybe he hadn’t tried hard enough.

 

* * *

 

In the coming cycles, Yellow Diamond herself indeed focused her attention on the patch of space that had been mentioned in a problematic way in a report referencing a Sapphire’s prophecy. She went with her army, and all she found was a gigantic rogue planet that happened to be skimming through that particular section of space entirely by coincidence at that moment.

Not what she was expecting - but nonetheless interesting.

She commanded her army to investigate. Starless planets were rare occurrences indeed - especially those in good condition like this one. She began considering some ideas in the vein of a new kind of free-floating colony. Could such a colony be propelled through space through some manner of contraption or device?

Resource crisis be damned - the universe would always provide. Yellow Diamond would surely single-handedly keep the empire afloat for another few millenia, at least.

Meanwhile, the rogue planet’s hivemind secretly investigated the gems right back.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I hope I made it clear that Jade’s weapon is the same as Aquamarine’s ;_;
> 
> I dunno if gems have ears or not. Whenever I write in reference to gem’s ‘ears’ I sub in ‘listener’ instead, for ambiguity ._. but I read somewhere that apparently Peridot called them ‘head holes’ once? I think that was in Gem Drill. Iunno XD Gems are weird so I just kinda glossed over the earphone thing. /admitting sins


	10. The Hypothetical.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Let’s muck around for a minute before things get real again.

“Maybe it just can’t hear you because of the bubble.”

Connie, pack and sword in a neat pile beside her, was sitting cross-legged on the beach. It was a beautiful fine late afternoon - the pleasantness of the day was contrasted however by the manner in which Steven was pacing in front of her. He seemed pent-up, troubled. But she understood why. The boy tended to hoard responsibility like the responsibility factory was shutting down for good.

“I.. don’t know,” replied Steven, glancing up at the blue sky with a torn, questioning look on his face. “Maybe?! Yes?!” He balled his fists and plonked down in the sand facing her, arms folded now. “I’ve tried every night for a week now. I wish I understood. Why is it so hard to save a planet?”

“Well, planets are pretty big targets and valuable to boot,” said Connie.

Steven looked frustrated. “If it’s so valuable, why destroy it?”

“The thing with value is that it can mean different things to different people,” Connie shrugged. “We value the Earth because it’s our beautiful home where we live, and so did everyone who came before us. It provides us with everything we need. The Crystal Gems value the Earth in a more abstract way - they learned of its beauty, saw its worth, and chose it over everything else they’d ever known. Now it’s their home that they’ve spent thousands of years defending. And in a way, Yellow Diamond also values the Earth, but that’s more because she expects it to provide her with a weapon someday.”

“The last time I spoke to the Cluster, I got the impression it didn’t actually want to destroy the Earth.” Steven shrugged. “It’s.. supposed to be made up mostly of Crystal Gems after all. I’ll keep trying to talk to it, but maybe it’ll be okay. But it’s like.. being here, on the beach, makes me feel bad now. Y’know? Like, how dare I enjoy myself right now with all this other stuff going on.”

“It does feel a bit better out in space, doesn’t it?” she agreed. “It’s like we can do stuff out there that we can’t here.” Connie smiled. “Peridot’s embraced the Zoo pretty hard, hasn’t she?”

Steven smiled a little. “Yeah. She’s hard to keep track of. She spent three days straight at the Zoo a couple of weeks back, and the rest of us completely didn’t notice. We all thought she was in the tub.”

“Speaking of,” she looked around, “Aren’t they supposed to be here now-ish?”

Steven snorted a little. “Peridot always sets her alarm to play that ultra-depressing country music she likes. It doesn’t help her get out of the bathtub any faster.”

“Oh yeah. And Amethyst doesn’t bother with alarms in the first place,” Connie nodded, then looked cross. “Aaargh! Why are we waiting on the only two gems in existence who bother with sleep! We’re such chumps! We should just go get them.”

“Hm. No, not yet,” Steven placed his head in his hands. “I just wanna.. exist for a minute, y’know?”

 

* * *

 

Lars, dressed in his Blue Diamond Insignia garb, which he definitely preferred now instead of the tribal zooman getup, was idling in the bridge of the Human Zoo, sitting in one of the otherwise unused chairs while messing around on a roughly 10” physical crystal screen. The Jasper, Bea, was seated two around from him in her usual chair, carefully monitoring its corresponding screen.

“Hey, Captain-” said Bea, glancing back at last. Surprised to see the bridge empty apart from herself and Lars, she looked over at him instead. “Uh, when did Skinny leave?”

A short silence passed before Lars was all “Huh?” and then “J-jeeze-” as he hugged the screen into his torso while the kids fell out of his hair to land on the floor in front of him.

“Not bad, right?” asked Steven, managing to stick the landing with the help of his floating power.

“Good job, Steven!” smiled Connie as she stood up from a crouch and began to take stock of their surroundings.

Lars looked over at Steven. “So. How’d your latest date with the planetshattering geo-weapon go? Get lucky?”

Steven’s whole demeanor became flat once again. “Eh. It’s still.. quiet.”

Lars and Bea exchanged glances. “Oh. Well, maybe.. next time.”

“Yeah,” Steven nodded, giving a little smile that he didn’t feel. “Next time.”

“Oh hey,” said Connie, changing the subject, “You have a space tablet! Lars? Does that have space wifi on it?” Then, incredulously, “Can _you_ read _Gem_??”

Lars was already devoted once again to the screen. “Uh, no. Whenever I think I’m getting the hang of it, I’m runnin’ to Skinny or Bea or one of the guys to translate some new thing for me. It’s complicated.”

“That’s Lars for yes! That’s so cool! Why didn’t you tell me sooner?” said Steven, pushing him in a friendly manner while simultaneously pushing down his own feelings. “C’mon, teach me stuff. Pearl said I wouldn’t have much use for it, but she doesn’t know - I might especially now that we’re in space a lot!”

“Oh my gosh, you gotta teach me too!” urged Connie, becoming rabid with interest. “I wanna learn Gemlish!”

“Gemlish?” asked Bea.

Lars at last looked up at them. “Steven, I respect that you’re a gem and everything; Connie, I totally get that you’re a huge nerd-”

Connie placed her hands on her hips. “Hey!”

“But Pearl’s probably right. Meanwhile, I’m out here, unsleeping, slowly succumbing to space madness because it turns out that space rebellions aren’t always as exciting or eventful as the movies say.”

Steven was unconvinced. “Space madness sounds made-up.”

Lars shrugged. “Space internet’s not that interesting.”

“But you’ve been staring at it the entire time we’ve been talking,” observed Steven.

Bea, who was still seated nearby, turned to chime in. “Before you ask, there’s also no ‘social media’ or ‘streaming’ or ‘Instagram’.. Whatever the stars all that is.”

“Yeah,” continued Lars. “Everything publicly available is all just stupid reports.. the gem code of laws, a bunch of weird propaganda, stuff like that. It’s terrible. And that’s why saving the world is important, kids - No Earth, no Reddit.”

Bea shook her head and turned back to her screen. “Well I wouldn’t call it terrible. A single-planet network sounds terrible to me, but what do I know? I’m just impressed to know humans have the capacity for learning this stuff at all, really.”

Lars laughed, forced. “Oho, oh, Bea. Ow.”

Steven snapped his fingers. “Oh! Almost forgot.”

As Steven drew a breath and made an impressive jump back into Lars’ head, Lars could be heard being all “Aw - Steven! Ow!”

Connie, who was glancing over his shoulder down at the screen in his hands, looked at him apologetically. “Peridot and Amethyst are waiting to come over too.”

“Cool,” cringed Lars, bracing himself. A moment later, Steven and the two gems were on the floor in front of them.

Amethyst threw up the peace sign. “Yo wassup! Lars, Bea.”

“Greetings all!” said Peridot warmly.

Lars nodded and threw down the surfer hand gesture at the two of them. Bea returned their greetings as well before turning back to carefully monitor chatter from all over the Empire.

“So where you off to?” Lars asked.

Amethyst said, “I wanna go hang with my homegirls at the Quarters, and Peridot here wants to do nerd stuff in the toolshed.”

“I gotchya covered,” said Lars, doing fingerguns before instigating a portal.

Amethyst smiled and prepared to take a running jump through it, but Peridot frowned and held her back.

“Wait wait wait. You - Jasper - before you happened upon this off color human, did you all just used to have to _walk_ everywhere?”

“Well, yeah?” Bea responded, having turned to gaze at Peridot the moment she realized she was being spoken to.

Peridot stared. “Really.”

“Well.. yeah..” said Bea again, lost.

“You!” Peridot said, turning to Lars. “Turn it off!” she commanded, pointing at the portal which promptly faded into nothing.

“Okay,” the ex-technician-come-farmer began to explain. “Although this whole place was obviously built sometime during the swansong of Era One - it also seems to have been renovated with at least _some_ of latest standard-issue starship features more recently than that. Hmm,” Peridot touched a stump to her chin in thought for a moment, “A.. rare move for Blue Diamond, but maybe that was during the century she was really _trying_.”

With everyone’s full attention, she took a couple of steps toward the captain’s chair, before coming to a stop midway between it and the pilot’s station. “Which meeeeans-” She stomped a gravity connector down hard on a circular design on the floor and stepped back quickly as the design glowed, producing a large sphere with an open hatch.

“Aha! A space-manipulating intra-facility transportation pod,” she said triumphantly, giving it a slap on its chassis. “This baby gets you down to the main level in no time _without_ needing to scream at you first. Can be activated at the Captain’s chair.. and probably all the other chairs too maybe. These models can also be used as escape pods in a pinch, but they.. tend to just crashland wherever. I tried it myself, once.”

“Whatever,” said Lars. “Portals are cooler.”

Bea blinked, then gushed at Peridot. “Whaaaat. We.. had no idea.” She blushed. “I feel.. idiotic! What else can this old thing do?”

“Well,” said Peridot, wandering over to a panel. “This is only cosmetics, but check this out!” She made a few swiping gestures on the screen, and the whole room lost its purpink lighting scheme in order to slowly cycle through the color spectrum, shortly settling gently on a scheme comprised of green and yellow tones instead. “Hah! Much better.”

Everyone else looked around in awe, having enjoyed the brief trip.

“That was so cool,” breathed Steven. “Sour Cream would be able to rave so hard here!”

“D’ya think?” asked Lars, genuinely interested in that idea.

Peridot smirked at Bea. “And that’s only a fraction of the features you have been missing out on. This is why they don’t usually let _quartzes_ run anything. Well, aside from rebellions and mutinies. But that’s the whole point of rebellion and mutiny, I suppose - they don’t _let_ you.”

Here, she laughed excitedly in the classic Peridot way. “Did you all see that? That was _improvised humor!_ ”

“Hey, uh, I don’t appreciate what you said about quartzes,” said Amethyst, “But that was really funny, Peridot!”

Bea was pretty excited. “Can you do all that again for the Captain when I get her up here? Can you show me more!?”

Instead of being eager to head away, Peridot was suddenly interested in Bea’s screen. “Huh? Oh, maybe. Shh! Let me see here.” She made a few odd swipes, and frowned. “Hm. You’re not really connected to much. Oh, I see. You’re going to want higher clearance before you can begin to access the true extent of what Homeworld and all its outlying colonies across multiple star systems has to offer.”

“What was that now?” asked Bea as she watched Peridot type a heap of gibberish into a little black box that popped up on the screen.

Peridot cackled triumphantly. “Viola!”

“It’s _voilà_ , whispered Connie.

After the briefest wounded glance at Connie, Peridot gestured again to the screen. “Anyway. It looks like we’re in. My old credentials still work. I don’t have the highest level clearance obviously, but this should be better than what you had.”

Bea, absolutely stunned, gaped at Peridot. “This is - but.. C-can’t this be traced?”

The small green gem shrugged and waved a hand casually. “Don’t go pushing any red buttons - in the figurative sense - and you’ll be fine.”

“But.. we’re rebelling against the Diamonds?” Amethyst was confused. “With the sort of stuff we’re gunna naturally wanna search for.. uhh..”

Scratching her head, she glanced at Connie, who jumped in. “Picture it like this; the red button is us, right? Well, that red button is also made up of thousands of smaller red buttons. We’ve got red buttons for hands, red buttons for feet. We go to work - a red button factory, where all we do is push red buttons all day long because _that’s our whole job, Peridot!_ ”

Peridot glanced aside, troubled. “Hmm. In that case, no one do anything on the network just yet. I’ll get some barriers set up.”

The impressed Bea moved aside, allowing Peridot to take the chair instead and watched the smaller gem as she worked. Connie battered at Lars, who hunched away from her.

“Now I really wanna know Gemliiiish,” she whined. “Teach me!”

Lars threw back his head like a moody teenager. “Ugh! I barely know what a noun is! I’m just blundering through this, like everything else in my life. Wouldn’t any gem ever be better at teaching you - what’d you call it - Gemlish? I bet even Amethyst could do it.”

Amethyst hesitated. “Huhh..” she frowned. “Maybe I could get in on these lessons too?” She smiled meekly.

“Since you asked nicely,” said Peridot.

 

* * *

 

The following weeks passed with abandon.

The Alliance was given to understand that Yellow Diamond was indeed preoccupied; having found something anyway out in some distant corner of space, away from Earth, and better access to the entirety of Gem knowledge meant that the quartzes were able to build a much better idea of the state of the Gem Empire.

Space was limited aboard the station, but the quartzes had managed to find and clear out an area big enough to hold regular combat training sessions in. Pearl and Garnet, having been active fighters for thousands of years, ran these, and any quartz or human who felt the need to attend showed up.

On alternate days, Peridot held Gemlish Comprehension lessons for Amethyst and the humans up in the Bridge.

Lars’ head had never seen so much traffic, but he had been slowly becoming accustomed to receiving the odd shoe in the face for his trouble.

Connie was having the time of her life - and with her school holidays fast approaching, she was looking forward to doubling down on the gem stuff and cramming more than ever, all the while spending time with Steven and her friends. She quickly surpassed Steven, Lars and then Amethyst in Gemlish comprehension, and was top of the class.

“Connie. I’m going to say something,” said Peridot at the close of one session, in a very solemn manner. “Your capacity to learn, for a _human_ , greatly impresses me. To appropriate an extremely confusing Earth metaphor, you are ‘a human in pursuit of my own gemstone’..?” She paused to find out if the expression landed. Judging by the four blank faces in front of her, she could tell that it did not. But she continued nonetheless. “So..” and here she became very excited, “I’ve taken the liberty of crafting a reward for you! Here you go!”

It was a medal, small and green, made of metal - shaped and engraved to look like a chibi version of Peridot’s own smiling face. It was attached to a green laynard which Peridot ceremoniously placed over Connie’s head. Connie smiled crookedly. “Aw.. Wow! Thank you, Peridot! I love it.”

Peridot smiled in a manner identical to the one displayed on the medal. “Yes! And now my precious face can encourage you toward greatness, even when we’re apart!”

Steven applauded happily while Lars and Amethyst looked on in bewilderment as Peridot continued.

“The rest of you should take this moment to gaze upon Connie here with a deep envy, vowing to forever strive to emulate her in all aspects of your lives. Welp! Class for today is over. You all have your homework, so go do it!”

“Nerd!” called Amethyst in good spirits.

“I come to space.. to go to school,” whined Lars miserably as the realization hit. Amethyst patted him on the back.

“Space school!” chimed Steven with optimism. “C’mon, it’s fun! Maybe we should even make this more of a thing. Maybe as well as Gemlish, we could learn other things too.. like.. uhh, History? .. Gem history? Oh! What about.. How different the Earth would be if it had never been invaded?”

“Oh, that’s easy. No Cluster,” said Peridot as she immediately exited this hypothetical Earth. “I’d still be kindergartening on whichever far-flung colony Yellow D would have seen fit to place me.”

Amethyst snorted. “No pizza for me, I guess!” and then she blinked in surprise, suddenly troubled. “Wait! No kindergarten.. no Famethyst - No _me._ ”

“Noo, maybe you’d still be a gem somewhere else!” said Steven cheerfully.

His words caused Amethyst to frown. “Aw. I don’t wanna be somewhere else..” she complained as she disappeared somewhere else.

“The Crystal Gems would never have formed,” ventured Connie, banishing the ancient rebels back to whatever far-flung parts of the universe they had all respectively come from - those corrupted, uncorrupted - unbubbled. All of them, slaves.

”And there would be no Steven,” she added.

Steven gasped. “No me!?”

“You’re half gem, silly.” She smiled sadly at him. “You would never have existed.”

“Mamma-mia!” he joked as he bowed out of the gemless version of Earth as well.

“I’d still be.. at work,” Lars sunk a little in his ambivalence, existing just fine in the new status quo with tan skin and a slightly above average heartrate for a guy his age.

Connie thoughtfully rested her chin on her hand, remembering for a moment how she’d once felt, back in a life she no longer recognized - overbearing parents, unable to see without glasses. “I’d.. still be lonely.”

She frowned, wrapped up in this new version of reality. “No corrupted gems wandering free on the Earth for thousands of years.. And, would Earth itself be any different? They’d started terraforming at least a little before the rebellion.. To what extent did the Earth change during that time? All those structures that were never built. The war that never happened. The tech that never came here.”

“Do you think the reason why humans are smart is because we learned from gems?” came a thought from Lars.

“Like, all our technology? The way we communicate? Do you watch the zoomans enjoying their happy little lives and think, ‘There but for the grace of Pink Diamond go I’?”

“I guess so?” Lars shrugged, not having expected a thirteen year old to expound upon his idea so efficiently.

“Pink.. Hmm. The Diamond that had never been shattered.” Connie considered it a moment. She frowned as an errant thought occurred to her, but pushed it aside for now as she was still chatting with Lars on the Hypothetical Earth. “I think we.. could have done it on our own. As a species, we certainly have the capacity.”

“Do you really think.. the zoomans can just.. learn how to live on Earth? Like it’s no big deal?” Lars asked with a seriousness on his features.

“Lars, I believe that anything is possible with hard work,” replied Connie.

Suddenly, all the absentees from this mysterious world were back right there with them, having followed the conversation in silence.

Connie looked determined for a moment, and then ran over to Bea. “Excuse me, Bea Jasper. May I please borrow a screen for use outside of class for a while?”

“Of course. Take your pick. There are lots,” came Bea’s friendly response as she gestured towards a small disorganized pile of them on one of the unused chairs.

 

* * *

 

Later, down by the lake, Connie was sitting cross legged on the shore reading the screen she had borrowed while the others played in the water. Lars was jumping up and down on the surface for all the world like it was a trampoline, causing the water to rise and fall into bigger and bigger waves that rippled out while Steven and Amethyst bodysurfed upon them.

Steven washed up in the sand next to Connie, noticing how involved she was in whatever she was doing. “Hey! What are you reading?”

“Hmm?” She glanced up and smiled, shrugging. “Oh, you know me - falling down the rabbit hole again.”

“Yeah?”

“I’m just reading some old reports. Sorry. I got really into this one in particular.. I don’t feel like swimming.”

“Really? But.. there are waves now! It’s so cool!”

She glanced up again at him, deadpan. “There are waves at the beach back home.”

Steven raised his arms into the air, excitedly. “These are magical waves! Sort of!”

Connie laughed at that, and Steven smiled at her.

“Aw, well. That’s okay,” he said. “Have fun!”

He ran back in and Connie lowered her eyes back down to the screen. The next time she glanced up, Steven was dressed and Amethyst was drying herself and she blinked in surprise at how the time had flown by.

“Welp, it was fun, pink guy,” Amethyst was saying as she wrung her hair out. “But I gotta get these kids home in time for bed. And find Peridot too I guess.” She glanced around, squinting, hand stroking her chin. “Hmm.”

“Children, huh?” smirked Lars.

“Hey, Connie?” asked Steven. “You ready to go home?”

Connie looked honestly extremely torn. “Oh, I’ve kinda got.. this going on? These things don’t connect properly by themselves on Earth. Do you suppose I could just.. stay here tonight and finish reading? I’m so close to.. something.”

“What is it?” asked Steven, mystified.

“It could be nothing.. But I don’t wanna say just yet, I’m still researching.” She perked up. “I have my own food of course, and a hammock I can set up near wherever Lars sleeps-”

“I don’t sleep, but sure.” Lars shrugged. “I guess you could set your hammock up here in the containment area.. or the Quarters, but that place can get really rowdy.”

“Here in the forest will be perfect,” smiled Connie. “I love the great outdoors!”

“You _know_ this is an old tin can floating around in space, right?” asked Amethyst.

Steven looked worried at Connie. “Do you want me to stay too? I wish you’d let me know what you’re reading about-”

“No, you go home. I’m going to be up reading pretty late I think.. I’ll explain everything when I have something worth explaining, Steven. Just trust me,” she smiled.

 

* * *

 

“..So then I says to Moldavite, I says-”

Steven suddenly burst with Amethyst through Lars’ head. The boy was still in his pajamas and looked very worried. He stood up on the floor to see that Lars was up in the bridge chilling with Skinny and Bea.

Bea broke her story off at the interruption. “I’ll finish this later. Hi!”

“Dang, man. Morning already? Did ya bring us coffee?” asked Lars, fixing his hair.

“Hi guys! Next time, Lars! Where’s Connie?”

“She’s fine. Here,” Lars said before shouting up a portal, which Steven immediately hurled himself through.

Amethyst blinked uncomprehendingly as the portal died and Bea continued her story. “So anyway, I says to Moldavite, I says..”

 

* * *

 

It was still dark down in the containment area since there was no practical reason for the Zoo to sync with Earth’s natural day/night cycle. The portal blinked out but, once Steven’s eyes adjusted to its absence, he found that there was still enough light from the fake moon, the stars, and Connie’s nearby screen to see what was going on. He approached her slowly - she was sitting up hunched over the screen in her hammock, which was suspended between two trees.

“Oh! Connie!”

She jumped and turned to face him. She had bags under her eyes.

He smiled. “You’re okay! I had this horrible dream you were in space without me.. but in a bad way.”

But she had such excitement on her face that quickly caught his interest. She said, “STEVEN. PINK DIAMOND, STEVEN.”

Steven frowned. “Huh? Connie - slow down. Did you sleep at all?”

“PINK - STE-”

“Take big, deep breaths. Slow. Slower.”

She took a moment to do just that. “Now,” and here Steven squeezed her cheeks lightly with both hands. He had a subtle feeling he was about to be told something either hilarious or important. “Start from the beginning.”

Her eyes were lit by the glow of pure excitement as well as that of the screen as she stumbled from out of the hammock. It was clear she hadn’t slept. “Steven. I read multiple different accounts of the same sequence of events, which lead me down a labrynth of ancient gem logs and reports.. cross-referenced each of them against dozens of others - each one filling in blanks the others missed.. And I-I pieced it together.. All of it.”

Connie glanced away, suddenly uncertain about what her news would do to her best friend.

“All of what?” asked Steven, who was meanwhile gazing with wide eyes in anticipation.

She cleared her throat. Her previous rambling now gave way to a carefully constructed sentence. “I think I may know where the shattered remains of Pink Diamond lie.”

During the following stunned moment, he let go of her face.

“Here,” she said, holding up her screen, pointing to a picture of a planet displayed upon it. “It’s an abandoned colony about a quarter of the way across this galaxy. A chamber in some kind of palace owned by a Morganite. This Morganite was something of a collector by all accounts. The place is in ruins, and the Morganite long gone, but the shards may still actually be there.” She smiled and shrugged. “Maybe!”

Steven’s eyes boggled as he whispered. “Pink Diamond’s shattered remains. A-are you sure?”

“Well, not a hundred percent, but it seems possible based on my research.” Connie smiled widely despite herself. “How cool would that be if it were true, though! The idea that she could still be somewhere out there - in pieces, of course, but..” She raised a fist. “The undeniable proof that everything we’ve been told all _really happened_. It’s like, time seems impossible to deal with, especially the void that separates us here in this moment from way back then. You can’t get to there from here. But now, it feels like all of time is just different parts of the same moment and it’s.. tangible! And it’s all right now! Maybe we can even reach out.. and touch it!” She giggled into her cupped hands. “Steven; stop me! I’m talking crazy!”

“What if we can touch it,” breathed Steven suddenly.

Connie stopped. “Uh..” But she could do nothing more than watch as Steven’s face took on a look of determination. She had a feeling she knew what he was going to say.

“What if we looked for them.. if we _found_ them. What if I could..” He touched his face, boggling at the implications of what all this could mean.

On the proviso that it were all true, of course.

Connie’s jaw dropped opened in understanding. “Steven, just because I’ve figured out where her shards were taken, what are the odds they’re even still there? Maybe the place has been ransacked since the last report was filed - Who even knows what gems do to abandoned colonies. There’s certainly been more than enough time to pick the place clean.”

Steven glanced up at her, brow furrowed in a way she hadn’t really seen before. He said, “If the colony is as abandoned as you say it is, it shouldn’t be too dangerous to at least have a look. Right?”

Connie looked concerned, then softened. “Well.. We’re not going to be able to do it alone, are we! We should go talk to the others about this.”

“Okay,” said Steven, frowning and looking around. “Oh.. wait. The portal’s gone. And the door will be shut..” He narrowed his eyes. “Connie, we’re, uh, kinda trapped in here, aren’t we?”

“Oh, that’s no problem.” Connie swiped at button on the screen she was still holding and Bea’s face popped up. “Hi Bea! Can we get some room service down here please?”

“On it,” replied Bea.

Three seconds later, a portal opened up for them mere yards from where they stood.

 

* * *

 

“Uhhh, one question. Have you guys lost your minds?” asked Amethyst after the children explained the situation up in the Bridge.

Steven scratched his head. “She was bad, yeah, I know. A villain, Garnet said. But.. mom was bad, too. She shattered someone. She broke a gem. It shouldn’t matter who it was. ”

“You’re not thinking clearly, dude,” said Amethyst. “This is nuts! You’re talking about essentially grave robbing. Don’t get me wrong - sounds like the perfect first date to _me_ , but not typically a ‘Steven’ thing to do.”

“Amethyst makes a solid point,” said Lars, mystified.

Steven took a deep breath as he came to what would be the point of the mission. “I was thinking that maybe.. I can heal her. I can heal cracked gems.. Sure, I haven’t tried healing a shattered gem before, but I brought Lars back!”

“I wasn’t in pieces!” Lars’ eyes widened as his uncertainty about that dawned on him. “..W-was I?”

Steven had his hands behind his back awkwardly. “Well, no, you weren’t..”

“But it’s not that simple,” said Connie, brow wrinkled. “A dead human and a broken gem don’t seem to be exactly the same thing. Gem shards can still contain fragments of the original consciousness. They can even reform somewhat. It sounds like a horrible experience. But, maybe that’ll make it.. easier to bring a gem back?”

Lars pulled a distasteful face as Amethyst frowned.

“So what, you’re trying to solve all of Homeworld’s problems now too?” Amethyst asked incredulously.

Steven glanced at her.“Not exactly. I was thinking, if this works, that we could reason with her. About Earth.”

Amethyst folded her arms and looked at him side-eyed. “How.”

Steven scrambled for words. “Win her over!”

“But _how._ ”

“Maybe she’ll be happy to be alive again. Maybe the other diamonds will be happy too. Maybe we could tell her about how the Earth is great, and special.. About how all the quartzes at the Zoo want to preserve it - she made them, maybe she’ll listen to them at least. Maybe they’ll leave Earth alone.”

“Pink Diamond is a _diamond_ , Steven,” said Skinny, with an odd kind of interested reluctance. “A diamond has never once taken advice from a quartz in all of documented history. I’m.. mostly assuming that, of course.”

“Seems likely though,” nodded Bea.

Amethyst folded her arms. “Yo, Steven. Say you heal her. What then? What’s Pink Diamond, the diamond your _mom_ shattered, gunna do the moment she figures out who _you_ are?”

Steven’s downcast answer was mere lipservice because everyone present knew exactly what he was about to say. “..Mistake me for Rose Quartz, try to kill me as well as anyone who’s with me.” Suddenly he looked back up at his friends. “But if that happens, we can poof her. She’ll be better off whole but poofed and bubbled than in pieces. At least.. I’ll feel better about it.”

“I dunno, man..” said Amethyst with uncertainty. “Poofing a Diamond seems.. really difficult. It could turn into a straight-up mess.”

Steven frowned and tried his best to sound sure of himself. “If mom can shatter one with a sword that was never meant to shatter, we can poof one! Right?”

Skinny and Bea exchanged glances before also judging Lars and Amethyst’s reactions.

“I guess we.. could try?” suggested Amethyst. “If they go, I go. I don’t know what Pearl or Garnet will say, though.”

Lars looked pretty interested. “I got nothing else going on. I'm in.”

Skinny kicked out a leg from where she was sitting in the captain’s chair. “Stars. Well, listen. If you can get Garnet and Pearl on board, I’ll be happy for this to move forward as long as you bring extra muscle.”

“Wy and Zee at least will be up for it, I bet. But, uh,” said Lars. “What’s this abandoned colony supposed to be like?”

Connie chimed in. “The terse description of the planet leaves much to the imagination. I think it describes a planet like Earth but warmer and mostly swamp.”

“I could be a crocodile!”

Connie shrugged, yawning from sleeplessness. “The report reads like there are already natives living there, Amethyst. Organic. Or at least there were, back whenever these reports were written. They could be extinct or abundant by now, or anywhere in between.”

Steven smiled. “I’ll go see what Pearl and Garnet think. I’ll be right back!”

 

* * *

 

“Steven! Hello! Back from space already?” Pearl smiled upon seeing the young lad exit Lion’s mane. She stood at the stove, making tea, for no real reason aside from that she enjoyed the orderly process of making tea. Her cellphone lay on the bench top nearby.

“Hey Pearl!” he responded, feeling a little unsure of himself. But Pearl was smiling and acting pleasant enough - perhaps this would go well after all, he told himself. But he needed to get changed out of his pajamas first, so he took the opportunity to rehearse what he was about to say in his head as he went to have a shower. Soon, he exited the bathroom, fully dressed, still toweling off his hair, and glanced up at Pearl who was sitting next to her cup of tea that she’d made, not drinking it, reading the newspaper on the island bench.

“How’s space? Is there anything big going on up there? How is everyone? Would you like some tea?” she asked.

“No thanks. They mentioned wanting coffee, though.”

“Coffee?” Pearl frowned. “How inelegant. But sure. Hmm. I suppose.. I’ll put it in flasks so you don’t spill it all over yourselves when you pop out of your friend’s hair.”

Steven smiled as he grabbed a banana from the fruit bowl to peel. “Good idea. You’re so smart, Pearl.”

Pearl smiled genuinely at that as she busied herself with the making of the coffee. “Are you ready for training today?”

“Of course! I can’t wait!”

“I wonder what kind of turnout we’ll have. Last time it almost seemed like the entire facility showed up.” She was distant, suddenly. Traumatized. “ _So many amethysts.._ ”

“That’s just because you’re an _amazing_ teacher, Pearl!”

Pearl blushed at the praise as she filled and turned on the jug.

Meanwhile, Steven decided to go for it. “Hey, Pearl? I sort of had this idea - well, I have to give Connie all the credit actually because she did all the hard work. You know how she stayed on at the Zoo last night instead of coming back?”

Pearl nodded. “Of course, I won’t be forgetting that in a hurry.” She rolled her eyes a little. It had been a long and difficult phonecall with Connie’s mother.

“Well, turns out she was researching,” he hesitated as a thought occurred to him; _What would this do to her._ But Pearl deserved more credit than that, he thought, so he went for it. “Oh, I’ll just say it. She figured out the last known whereabouts of the shards of Pink Diamond, and we wanna go see if they’re there.”

Pearl stood stock still, her eyes the size of saucers. Steven hunched a little under her gaze. “Uh.. H-how do you feel about that?” he asked, struggling to stay optimistic.

Extremely slowly, Pearl said, “It’s.. pointless, Steven.”

Steven frowned. Now that he was suddenly being very honest with himself, he totally figured Pearl would be like this - how dare he ever hope for a reasonable discussion. He glanced around the open-plan house. “Where’s Garnet?”

“You.. you can’t go!” Pearl looked desperate. “There’s.. no point!”

“You already said that.” Steven spread out his hands, glancing up at her in exasperation. “Why shouldn’t we do this? If it’s true, and she’s there - I might be able to restore her gem! Maybe we can reason-”

“B—because.. _Ethically.._ ”

But Steven had a counter. “ _We_ have shattered gem remnants bubbled in the basement!” He spread his arms wide. “How is that any different!?”

Pearl stammered slightly before getting the words out. “The shards we have bubbled in the basement are dangerous in the wrong hands, Steven!”

He blinked, brow furrowed. “Aren’t diamonds _super_ powerful!? That should be a great reason to want to go after them! So that we can protect them.”

Pearl floundered. “It’s.. dangerous! And you really shouldn’t. Where’s Garnet?” She raised her voice to call out. “Garnet! Garnet!? OH C’MON GARNET WHERE ARE YOU.”

Steven raised his arms and waved them around. “Pearl! If it _works_ , if I can bring her back to life, I think there’s a chance we can reason with her! She must have liked humans at least enough to want to preserve them in the Zoo - maybe we could show her the Earth! Maybe she’ll fall in love with it - Like Ruby and Sapphire did. Like Peridot did. Like _you_ did!” He had tears in his eyes. “Like _mom_ did!”

“S-Steven, please, it’s not going to wo-” Pearl said, trying her best to keep her voice even. “I have something I need to sa-” again, her hands shot up to her mouth, muffling her voice.

Steven looked on, confused, sad. “Pearl, stop this,” he said, pleading with his eyes. “If you know something about Pink Diamond, you need to tell me right now.”

Pearl was shaking her head, eyes closed. Was she.. was she _trying to pull her own hand away from her mouth_? Steven was freaked out. His voice went higher than it already was for a boy his age. “It’s okay! You can tell me!”

But she wasn’t talking. She was looking down at him, shuddering and teary. He crinkled his face in a disappointed manner.

“Why can’t you just talk to me about this!?” Suddenly, he was more angry than merely disappointed. “I HOPED you were done lying to me! I thought you were finished omitting important details! I THOUGHT we’d moved past this! Pearl! I don’t know what all this is. I don’t CARE if you just think I’m just a human child - I’m a gem! I.. I can handle whatever you have to tell me!”

Pearl was weeping from behind her hands, but Steven was frustrated. And sad. “I’m just asking you to trust me, Pearl. But.. I can see that you can’t do that. I’m going back to space.” He glanced away. “Don’t wait up for me.”

Steven turned to head back towards Lion but hesitated as he spotted the Wailing Stone-based communications setup nearby. In a hot temper, face damp with tears, he grabbed the Wailing Stone and wrenched it free of the rest of the equipment before sprinting with it as if it weighed very little to jump into Lion’s mane, leaving a distressed Pearl absolutely no recourse, unable even to contact the Zoo. She took a few steps toward the sleeping Lion before remembering how useless it was to try to get in there without Steven’s help. She fell to her knees, hard on the floor, her hands down at her sides.

Over on the kitchen counter, the jug finished boiling and the noise that meant her cellphone has just received a ‘txt’ sounded. She ignored both.

“Steven,” Pearl cried quietly, forlornly, into the otherwise empty room. “Pink Diamond is-”

The rest of whatever she was about to say was muffled by her own hands.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> SHH DONT TELL HIM AAAAHHHH
> 
> It’s weird writing something where everyone reading already knows what the twist is going to be, I’m just hoping to make the new set of circumstances surrounding it/how they get there super interesting.
> 
> God, we’re 10 Chapters, >50,000 words in and they haven’t bothered going after any of the Off Colors. ;_; That’s still like uhhh a few chapters away 
> 
> aw christ oh hell what is this becoming


	11. The Mire.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A new mission takes place and it quickly becomes an absolute nightmare.

Steven, shoulders already weighed down with a case of quick-onset remorse, ditched the Wailing Stone in the grasses of the Pink Dimension before exiting, and caught Lars mid-step. The guy fell forward, this time landing on top of Steven for once. Steven gasped for air as Lars pushed himself up off the kid.

“Hey dude,” Lars said casually, then, “Criminy, are you okay??”

“I-I forgot your coffee!” Steven stammered as he quickly recovered, trying not to sound devastated.

“Wha? Oh. Forget it. So-” Lars couldn’t keep the interest out of his voice as he stood up, holding out his hand to help the kid up as well. “How’d it go?”

“Yeah..” Steven lied as he accepted the help and stood up, looking awkward and scratching his head. “Pearl and Garnet are.. pretty fine with it.”

“Pretty fine,” Lars parroted, frowning. “But.. they.. don’t wanna come?”

“No.”

A long pause.

“They’re.. busy?” asked Lars, raising an eyebrow.

Steven nodded reluctantly and Lars frowned, scratching his head. “Look, man. You’re acting very un-Stevenly right now.” He was off balance about it. He lowered his voice. “D’ya need to.. talk? About.. anything?”

Any other day, Steven would have jumped right into this offer of a heart-to-heart with Lars. But in this moment he was unable to recognize how rare this was. As a matter of fact, he even turned Lars down. “No. No! Haha, I’m fine. Let’s just go deliver the great news!”

Steven looked up to find the others surrounding them.

“So?” asked Skinny.

“Sounds like the mission is on!” said Lars for Steven, who felt terrible.

Steven glanced around and spotted Connie asleep on one of the control station chairs.

“Aw,” said Steven, captivated by the cuteness.

“Her geek stuff must have kept her up all night,” said Lars.

“She passed out the instant you left,” chuckled Amethyst. “But it works out great since we’ve got lots of planning to do while she recharges.”

Behind them all, the orb appeared and unfolded to reveal Peridot before disappearing back into the floor.

“Hello everyone!” Peridot said, smiling pleasantly, arms akimbo. “What’s going on up here?”

“Peridot!?” asked Steven. “How are YOU here!?”

“Oh yeah,” Amethyst snapped her fingers. “I knew I forgot _something_ last night. Well, P, cancel your prior engagements! We’ve got a mission to plan.”

 

* * *

 

Cycles passed.

The atmosphere of the planet fell like a heavy blanket upon them as soon as they exited the Roaming Eye. It was dense - warm and muggy. The gems adjusted to the atmosphere quickly, as gems are wont to do being a space faring race. Stevonnie however soon found themself regarding the others with envy as their own hair immediately reacted to the sweltering heat, their skin forming beads of sweat at the slightest amount of effort.

Peridot, merely only disgusted by the soggy terrain, pulled her gravity connector out of a particularly deep mud puddle in an attempt to find a better foothold. Zee laughed and scooped her up, placing the small green gem on her shoulder.

“How’s that?”

“I have never suffered a greater indignity before in my life. But wow, thanks!” said Peridot with a genuine smile.

Lars quickly found that he was having a better time than the others in the mud. He wasn’t sinking in as deep.

“Donut guy! HOW ARE YOU DOING THAT!?” asked Amethyst, knee-deep in warm mud, as she whacked him in the thigh out of envy.

“Ow, hey! Must be the water content,” Lars shrugged, the pain leaving him quickly. “By the way - Why the heck can’t I go in water anymore, Steven? Er, Stevonnie?”

“How am I supposed to know?” came Stevonnie’s curt response as they shrugged, not really in the mood. “I’m _not_ Mom Quartz..” they muttered.

Lars and Amethyst exchanged an odd glance regarding Stevonnie’s mood. They went back to focusing on the task at hand.

“Ohhhh this is bad,” Stevonnie began to complain, swiping sweat from their face with their forearm while everyone stood around getting their bearings. They then noticed that even Lars, surveying the area with Amethyst, was holding himself normally - seemingly unaffected. He and Amethyst spun around, a little freaked, as Stevonnie cried out.

“WHAT. Lars! This humidity isn’t bothering _you!?_ ”

They regarded the fusion with confusion at first. “Pfft, Stevonnie, what is going on with your hair?” laughed Amethyst. “I love it! It’s a great look.”

“It’s the damp heat,” came Stevonnie’s miserable reply.

“Yeah, it’s kinda gross, huh?” said Amethyst, possessing the ability to tell what the weather is like as well as the ability not to really be bothered by it.

“I mean.. I was pretty uncomfortable at first, but I guess I adjusted?” suggested Lars, also unable to keep from smiling at their plight. “I can tell it’s warm and damp though.”

Stevonnie stood pouting for a moment.

“Guys, we got this. Just go wait in the Roaming Eye,” said Lars, in good spirits. “Or would you rather just go home? Luckily I brought my head with me - This baby can get you from a guy to a lion anywhere in the universe in a matter of seconds.”

Amethyst rolled her eyes at that. “Greg-tier jokes aside, I agree. Yeah, just go home before you boil your brains,” she said. “We’ll hail the Zoo to contact you Wailing Stone-style when we’re done.”

The Steven part of Stevonnie didn’t dare think about the massive bridge he’d burned, lest the Connie part learn the disturbing truth behind this mission. This left the fusion feeling distracted and a little irrational, struggling against something vague within themselves that they couldn’t understand. But the oppressive damp heat was as good a scapegoat as any. “No.. No way. I’m not sitting around bored again while everyone goes off having adventures,” the fusion determined as they slid their backpack off their shoulders and rummaged through it. Luckily, Connie had anticipated the weather and packed a handheld fan, which they pulled out and turned on.

“Is that.. better?” asked Amethyst with doubt in her voice.

“It gives the illusion of being better,” replied Stevonnie glumly, staring into the fan’s whirring blades. “Good thing we brought plenty of water. So what are we doing? Where are we looking?”

As Stevonnie slid their backpack back on, the three of them glanced around. The other two amethysts and Peridot were further afield, surveying the ruins to get their bearings. They had made a point of landing in a huge, ruined ancient gem complex - it had turned out to be much larger than the report describing it made it seem.

“I think we’ll just look over there?” suggested Amethyst, as the three began to venture out in the opposite direction to the others, but with every step Stevonnie took - a struggle. Lars realized why, rolled his eyes and doubled back.

“Gimme all your stuff, Stevonnie,” said Lars, beginning to get irritated.

“Lars? Are you.. _mugging_ me?” confusion was plastered all over their face.

Meanwhile, Lars adopted a pissy frown. “No? I’m trying to make it so you don’t exhaust yourselves to death out here. Jam the pack and sword in my head for later. Saves you from lugging it around in this weather.”

“Oh, sure,” they said, putting the cumbersome items in Lars’ head.

“It’s.. not just the damp heat, is it? What’s with you today?” Lars asked once the ordeal was over. “This isn’t like you.”

“It’s nothing. I’m fine,” they snapped.

“Uh, okay?” Lars held up his hands in surrender and Stevonnie continued on their way.

“Yeah, this ain’t normal,” said Amethyst, glancing up at him once Stevonnie was out of earshot.

“Do you know what’s up with them?” asked Lars.

“No idea. But if they don’t wanna talk, that’s up to them.” She shrugged. “I suppose we’ll just.. find out after Stevonnie becomes unstable and they fall apart. Sad really, but that’s how it works. Let’s just stick to the script for now and start looking.”

“Yeah, okay.”

The complex was so great that it had to be divided up into sections to make the search even remotely palatable. Most of the structures were completely eroded, having fallen into the mud long ago, parts of it riddled with bogweed unlike anything available on Earth, but there were enough structures still barely standing to cause it to be a big job.

Tiny flying insect-like creatures swarmed lightly, but they were just loitering - not really interested in any of the visitors for whatever reason.

“Listen everyone! As we know, there’s a huuuuuuuge chance that what we came here to find simply isn’t here anymore, but.. let’s give this task our best effort anyway!” Peridot smiled widely. “Now, parts of this complex feature the remains of staircases leading down into mucky water, which also need to be explored carefully,” she continued. “Dibs not,” she added quickly.

“Well, Stevonnie will drown and water just rejects me, soo..” said Lars, speaking for an incredibly worn-out and frustrated-looking Stevonnie.

The three amethysts all looked outraged. “Excuses!” came Zee’s pointless accusation.

“Oh, I’ll do it,” Wy capitulated. “But not alone.”

“Dibs not!” shouted Amethyst and Zee at the same time. They gaped at each other for a moment, and promptly began to fight.

Stevonnie’s jaw dropped. “Wait - what are you doing?!”

“The Famethyst settles disputes like this all the time. They love it,” snorted Lars as he looked on in a blasé manner, arms folded. “You get used to it. Who do you bet will win?”

“I have one of Steven’s ‘twenties’ riding on the small scrappy one,” called Peridot.

Soon, Zee had Amethyst in a headlock somehow.

“..Shit,” said Peridot.

“Peridot!” said Stevonnie, aghast.

“Fine! I’ll go down into the murky depths!” said Amethyst, conceding the win.

Zee, along with Peridot riding upon her shoulders, waded her way through sticky mud to the quadrant they were assigned to while Wy and Amethyst disappeared down into a watery subterranean hell. Stevonnie and Lars entered a decidedly intact section of an ancient building, and the search for the remains of Pink Diamond at last began.

 

* * *

 

The awfulness that was daytime in this horrible place slowly saw the planet’s parent star get lower and lower in the sky. The daystar was now two touchstump-widths above the horizon. The searchers had agreed to reconvene in front of the Roaming Eye at this time to catch up on what they’d found, so that’s what they were all currently engaged in doing, each and every one of them caked in mud.

“Nothing! We found.. nothing,” said Peridot, glumly attempting to scrape dried mud out of her hair. “Except for my deep unending hatred of this place.”

“But there’s good news - still no sign of any natives!” said Zee, doing the same. “What about you guys?”

“We found mud,” contributed Lars, completely unimpressed with the events of the day, “And we brought all of it over here to add to the collection.”

Meanwhile, Wy and Amethyst had a bubble with them. Everyone stared at it. The shards inside it were green, and very jagged.

“It’s.. obviously not Pink Diamond,” said Wy. “But it does inspire a bit of hope - does it not?”

Amethyst glanced down at a waterproof watch she had been wearing this whole time. “Yo! Stevonnie! It’s actually super late back home. You might wanna sleep soon!”

Stevonnie stood staring at Amethyst from a few yards away. They looked like an absolute train wreck. A train that crashed in mud.

Amethyst couldn’t help but smile in a sympathetic way. “..Or maybe just go home.”

“For the last time - that’s not how this works! That’s cheating. We are not going home until the mission is done and our friends are back safe at the Zoo,” said Stevonnie, irritably.

Lars chimed in. “But it’s disgusting here. You going to sleep in a sweltering cesspit?! I wouldn’t want to. Luckily you got us to keep looking while you guys aren’t here.”

Stevonnie was being stubborn. “We’ll stay here.”

“..Really?”

“Yeah. I’ll just sleep in the Roaming Eye.”

Amethyst put her hands on her hips. ”That’s stupid. But.. you’re both adults, or at least your fusion is? I dunno. Do whatever.”

Lars added, “Make sure you drink lots of water so you don’t completely dehydrate overnight.”

“Yes _moms!_ ”

“Hey! I will portal an avalanche of mud right down on top of you while you sleep, so help me!” Lars wasn’t keen on the new nickname.

 

* * *

 

Stevonnie retired to the Roaming Eye as the search for the shards continued without them. The daystar slid quickly under the horizon, but that did nothing to deter the searchers as they were able to light up their immediate surroundings using the soft glow of their gems, Lars with his eyeglow.

“Ugh,” complained Zee, struggling to aim the glow of her shoulder gem properly. “I wish mine was at the front somewhere.”

“You are perfect the way you are, Zee,” reminded Wy, who was in the same boat with her own gemstone being on her opposite shoulder.

Amethyst had been walking with Lars and Peridot to some ruined building that hadn’t been searched yet. Something caught her eye in the darkness outside the boundary of the ruins, however, and she ground to an abrupt stop. She held an arm out so that the others would stop to.

“Uh, I thought I saw something.. suspicious.” She hesitated. “Do you guys.. hear that?”

“Stevonnie’s snoring? Hah!” stated Peridot as she started moving again, but Amethyst was insistent that she stop.

“Wait - can’t you guys see it?” Amethyst’s voice was a whisper now. Peridot and Lars both squinted for a moment.

Lars was confused. “Which is it? Hearing or seeing?”

“What.. is that?” asked Peridot, leaning closer as if that would help.

Lars scrunched up his face. “It’s like the swamp’s.. moving?”

Peridot frowned. “No, it’s not the swamp that’s moving. It’s all those.. creatures comin’ towards us.” She pointed. “They’re the ones moving.”

“Oh.. yeah, they look like frogs,” nodded Amethyst, now able to make out some massive, decidedly froglike figures advancing. Some of which had weapons - primitive sticks held like spears, mostly.

“Hm.” Lars folded his arms, suddenly nervous. “Do you think they see us?”

“Are.. our.. lights still on?” asked Amethyst.

The various glows that all three of them had been radiating this whole time blinked out suddenly as the three stiffened.

“They definitely saw us,” confirmed Peridot, quietly.

The line of frogmen were now very visible to them, even in the dark.

“They look mad?” said, or asked, Lars.

Peridot was much the same. “Are they mad at.. us?”

“Guess we should run and warn the others, then!” suggested Amethyst, wincing, as all three of them turned to do just that.

 

* * *

 

Stevonnie, who had until recently been sleeping on an air mattress on the floor of the Roaming Eye, was rudely woken up by a rough shaking. “Hnn, go away!”

“Massive problem!” Lars was freaked. He jumped as the ship shook - a frogman had been whacked against the side of the Roaming Eye.

Stevonnie’s eyes flew wide open instantly and they lurched up. “What’s going on!?”

“We’re under attack by frogs!”

Stevonnie frowned as they attempted to understand what Lars was blathering about, but it sounded ridiculous. “Frogs.”

“Big frogs! Lots of!”

Jumping to their feet, the fusion threw their arm into Lars’ head. Soon, sword in hand and followed by Lars, they ran out the door to see quite the scene. It was dark, really dark, and Wy and Zee were nearby, back to back, fighting hard to not be overwhelmed.

Peridot was standing on Zee’s shoulder, holding onto the amethyst’s head for support. Seeing the almost-humans leave the Roaming Eye, she smiled to herself. Outstretching an arm towards the Roaming Eye, she levitating it and began using the ship to bowl over a group of the frogmen all the while giggling maniacally.

Amethyst had been working on defending the Roaming Eye from a couple of the attackers. Stevonnie ran over with a nervous-looking Lars in tow.

“Hi!” the fusion waved desperately at the frogman, attempting to communicate. “I’m Stevonnie! Amethyst, don’t hurt it - they’re organic! Let it go!”

“This thing is gonna go straight for our gems if I do that,” came Amethyst’s strained reply as she tried to hold the frog guy still. But it was slippery, and her grip needed constant adjustment.

“GEEEEEMS,” hissed the frogman suddenly, loudly, taking everyone aback. “SHAT-TER. THE GEEEEEEMS.”

Amethyst looked disturbed, eyes wide from fright and stress. “Okay! Enough of this!” She changed tack - easily lifting the creature up and throwing it away. She wiped mud off her hands as she spun around to see the two humans, both dodging sticky swamp attacks. Lars used a concussive wave to push back some of the creatures attempting to hem them in from the side.

“INVAAAAASION,” came another call from one of the froggy fighters.

“Oh. We.. we’re not invading!” Stevonnie yelled, as they were forced to kick one back. “We’re just here to look for something that isn’t even yours!”

“LIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIES”

But Stevonnie continued. “We.. we’re sorry you had to fight gems in the past! But we’re not with _those_ gems! We don’t want to colonize you!”

“LY-ING. GEEEEEMSSSSS,” the creature spat.

“There’s too many! We need to fuse!” cried Amethyst suddenly. “All of us!”

“Sure thing!” said Zee, preoccupied with fighting.

“No problem,” added Wy, similarly spending her time.

“Okay!” shouted Stevonnie, flustered.

Amethyst glanced over. “Yo! Donuts!”

Lars in response took a break from shouting the frogmen back, blushed deeply and waved his hands around. “..Me!? Uh, lissen - I like you guys, but not in _that_ way!”

She cast him a sardonic glance. “This is strictly business, idiot!”

“Then.. Sure, I guess! YAAAARGH!” said Lars, deciding to tumble back another group of advancing frogmen.

Amethyst glanced over at the final cohort. “Peri! You in?”

“I’m not sure..” said Peridot, who had her arms raised, having managed to levitate the Roaming Eye and was batting leaping frogmen out of the air with it. “I’ve.. never fused before!” She suddenly gasped, “But.. it’ll be perfect! We won’t lose anyone! We’ll be big! We’ll be _Strong!_ We’ll be able to fight and float and heal and control metal and make portals!” Her eyes were wide. “My stars - we’ll be a GODDESS! I’m in!”

Amethyst grit her teeth. “Awesome! Everyone, close in!”

“How does this work!?” Lars shouted.

“I don’t knooooow!” Peridot screamed.

Stevonnie grabbed their hands.

The onslaught of frogmen all suddenly recoiled, hissing, shielding their eyes as the six humanoids’ bodies lost definition and, glowing bright white, all swirled together, growing larger and larger at an increasing rate, the five gemstones swirling within as if caught in a magical updraft.

An enormous bright white form finally stood. Six distinct eyes opened.

And in an instant, it was over - The fusion failed catastrophically before it could fully settle into its form and its would-be components rained down back into the mud.

“Augh,” came a bunch of groans from no one individual in particular.

“..May have aimed too high,” admitted Amethyst, groaning.

Wy spat out a mouthful of mud before putting forth her hypothesis. “Too many first-timers?”

“Who cares? Plan B!” started Zee - a huge ball of energy jumping up out of the mud to grab Wy and Amethyst and fuse with them instead. Glowing white, growing bigger and bigger, Lars and Stevonnie shielded their eyes as the fusion exploded into being and took form.

“That is the biggest Amethyst I’ve _ever_ seen,” said a wide-eyed Peridot, awed.

A gigantic, stable amethyst fusion stood before them. She glanced around at the disrupted, scrambling frogman offensive and laughed to herself. She saw her friends, and squatted down to carefully pick them all up out of the muck.

“Woah! You guys are tiny,” she said, shuffling all three of them into one hand and smiling down at them as she rose to a standing position again. “Hi!”

“Hi, Gigantic Amethyst!” despite their previous mood, Stevonnie was thrilled.

“You are ridiculously big,” commented Lars.

“I know, right!? Way easier to stomp some frogs!”

“No! Try not to hurt them!” pleaded Stevonnie. “They already hate gems!”

“Nothing we can do now is going to make them suddenly love us,” said Peridot, spinning around to look out over the scene. The frogmen were collecting themselves. She extended an arm to reclaim the Roaming Eye, and it levitated up out of the mud.

“Listen. You guys should get in the Roaming Eye,” came an extremely reasonable idea from the huge fusion.

Stevonnie frowned. “No! I wanna help-”

Suddenly, an amphibious regrouping occurred. The hissing, screaming, mud-covered frogmen surged upwards, using their own peers as leverage. Peridot used the Roaming Eye as a remotely-controlled baseball bat once again, and giant frogmen fell to the boggy ground.

“Peridot! _Gentle!_ ” chided Stevonnie.

“..What!?” came the confused reply.

Gigantic Amethyst tried to smash a plan together. “Stevonnie - It’s too much! But they can’t take me down. I can drive them back. Scratch the Roaming Eye idea - I like what P’s doing with it. You have to take Lars and get outta here! Get in the air! Okay? Don’t come down till we’re back!”

“O-okay!” said Stevonnie, a little desperately. “I love you, Amethyst.”

“Aw! That’s really sweet,” Gigantic Amethyst smiled. “And I’mma _totally_ say it back later when we catch up again, alright? Now go!”

Stevonnie jammed the sword back into Lars’ head before grabbing him and making a gigantic leap from the giant purple hand up into the air. Lars freaked right out, grabbing back and clinging to them tightly, hyperventilating a little as the enlarged amethyst’s hand zoomed away from them, fast.

“Hey, Lars, it’s okay, relax a little,” said Stevonnie, in a purposefully calming way as the surrounding region unpacked itself out around them. It was dark, damp swamp, as far as the eye could see. Above them, a multitude of stars. Off in the distance, approaching clouds.

“RELAX?” Lars was not relaxed. He instead grit his teeth and shut both eyes as the wind whizzed past them. Or were they whizzing past the wind?

Regardless, Stevonnie tried to be soothing. “It’s gunna be okay soon.”

“This sucks!”

“Trust me. Oh, look!”

“Ughhhh..” He forced an eye open, and together they both watched Gigantic Amethyst fighting the onslaught of frogmen in the middle of the ruins they were just in. Lars opened both eyes as he noticed their ascent was slowing - they were coming to the apex of their flight.

“No.. oh no..”

“It’s okay! I have floating powers, remember?” said Stevonnie. “We’re safe!”

For an odd moment they floated in apparent zero gravity for a second before the gravitational force of the planet began acting upon them once more. True to Stevonnie’s word, they began a descent, but a slow one. Lars was surprised and relaxed his grip. Stevonnie, alarmed, scrambled to grab him back.

“What are you doing!?” they freaked. “Don’t let go! Again, _I’m_ the one floating here - not you!”

“Oh, right. My bad,” he went back to clinging on for dear life.

They watched from their incredible vantage point as the frog people climbed on top of one another in order to attempt to overwhelm Gigantic Amethyst (and Peridot - a small green speck dancing around on the fusion’s head), but the fusion quickly knocked them back. The frogs scattered and regrouped and came back at them in the same manner but this time Peridot swung the Roaming Eye into the center of their bulk, and the squirming organic pseudo-fusion fell right apart.

“I.. think it’s going to rain soon,” said Stevonnie, out of the blue. “It’s cooler now. Are you feeling that?”

“Uh-huh,” replied Lars, distracted, unable to tear his eyes off the scene below them.

The huge fusion, along with the Roaming Eye support bat, slowly disappeared into the darkness along with the seething, writhing mass of frogmen as they watched. Soon, they were alone, seemingly hanging in the air as they slowly descended.

Lars quickly became too bored to remain afraid and clung limply to the fusion. “Hm. This.. still sucks, but in a different way now.”

“Yeah..” replied Stevonnie, who during this lull was beginning to feel the old inexplicable frustration and stress they felt throughout the previous day return to them. “Ugh..”

“What’s up?” asked Lars, trying once again to be Stevonnie’s personal agony aunt.

“Nothing,” came the reply, and Lars noticed a slightly quicker rate of descent. “It’s just the weather getting to me.”

“But it’s not just the suffocating heat, is it? Steven was acting weird before we even left the Zoo.”

“He.. was?”

Lars couldn’t believe the genuine surprise in Stevonnie’s eyes. “What!? How are you unaware of - he’s literally half of you!”

“What is WRONG with you, Steven!?” Stevonnie shouted. The fusion suddenly came apart in Lars’ arms and the three of them began to plummet.

“Ffffffff - Aaaaaah!” said everyone.

“Steven!” screamed Connie, grabbing Steven’s arms. “Do the floaty thing!”

Steven’s tears seemed to fall upward as they themselves rushed downward. “I can’t! I feel too.. bad!”

Connie stared blankly at him for a moment, then softened. “Steven,” she started, a lot calmer now. “This has happened before. Don’t you remember?”

Steven sunk into himself. “I remember.”

“So you know what to do, right? Just breathe.”

“YAHHGH!” came a sudden scream from Lars. Half a second later, they entered a tunnel of bright, moving light for a brief moment. When they exited the portal their momentum was such that they were thrown instead in an upwards direction briefly before dropping a short distance, this time, to land in mud far more softly than if they had fallen the entire way.

Lars began laughing hysterically and hauling himself up onto his hands and knees during the stunned silence that followed. “HAH! It WORKED!” He spat mud at the ground as he continued. “In your face gravity, you _bitch!_ ”

“Ugh!” Connie gagged, spitting swamp mud out. “Aaaaaugh gross!”

Steven raised his face out of the mud and inhaled deeply. “So unprepared for that..”

Lars laughed out of relief and sat up, pulling a bottle of water from his forehead and offered it to Connie, who sat back onto her knees and took it. Swilling and spitting out mud was a lot easier with water, and when the unpleasantness was over, she took a few bigger gulps to rehydrate.

“Aah! So Good. Thanks, Lars!”

Steven stood nearby, eyes clenched shut, hands grabbing the sides of his head. Lars turned to him. “Dude! What’s going on with you!?”

“Nothing! Stop asking!”

Connie walked over and offered Steven the bottle of water. “It _is_ just the heat, right?”

Steven hesitated before nodding, but he couldn’t deny his thirst and accepted the water. He took deep gulps ravenously.

“Listen, Steven,” Connie began, “We should really think about going home. The heat is obviously getting to us, and Stevonnie’s suffering because of it. At this point we’re only holding Lars back.”

“Yeah,” Lars waved a hand around. “Just go. I’ll find Peridot and the amethysts in no time.”

“No,” said Steven. “I-I feel better now. It was.. just dehydration, Connie.” He attempted a smile that he didn’t really feel.

“Well, okay,” she smiled. “If you’re sure. But I really don’t think we should leave Lars here alone either.”

“..Thanks, guys,” came Lars’ reluctant admittance.

Connie said, “Gems really made quite the impression on these frog-people sometime in the past, huh?”

“Kinda can see why? The Empire was going to gut their planet for resources and kill every last one of them-” Lars cut off suddenly as a rock bounced hard off the back of his head. He spun around. “Ow!? Hey!”

“Ack!” said Steven as another fast-moving rock bounced harmlessly off his own skull. “Where’d that-”

Connie seemed about to say something, but was cut off before she could by another rock connecting with her head in a loud, horrible thunk.

The crack of bone.

She immediately went down, splashing limply into wet mud. The two boys each did a doubletake as they spotted more rocks hurtling through the air towards them, glittering in the starlight. Steven extended an arm, and his shield immediately went up, hovering in the air above them, protecting the three of them from further hits. The oncoming volley of rocks clattered harmlessly off it.

“Connie-” Steven desperately dropped to his knees to grab her, pulling her back out of the mud. “Connie - wake up!”

Lars wrenched his eyes away from his downed friend to glance around nervously. And then he saw it, at the top of a nearby mud hill, semi-hidden behind some wiry swamp trees - A line of frog people, who had been notified of their presence by their shouting and the light of the portal while it existed, were preparing another assault now that it was evident that their previous tactic had become insufficient. Lars jolted in unwelcome surprise, shouted up another portal and grabbed the struggling Steven in one arm and the limp form of Connie with his other before jumping through. The shield blinked out of existence as the the portal did.

They landed about a mile away at the top of the hill in front of them - there seemed to be no frog people around - for now. But they’d seen how fast those things were; how quickly they’d swarmed them, and driven their search team from the ruins.

The hill happened to be a great vantage point from which Lars immediately began to scan their surroundings as much as he could in near-darkness. Swamp, hill, swampy hill, gross snake-tree forest sticking out of more swamp, water, mud, watery mud, another swampy hill. Somewhere in the far distance, invisible to them in the darkness now, lay the ruins they were all supposed to be searching.

Meanwhile, Steven had kicked his way out of Lars’ hold and went over to see Connie’s still form, still in Lars’ arms.

“Put her down-”

Lars was squinting in the fading starlight, scoping desperately. “No, we’re not safe yet-”

“LARS-”

“Stop,” came the taller kid’s response. With his free arm, he pointed toward where thought he could see a cave in what seemed to be a rocky outcropping on one of the other nearby rises. “We’re going over THERE,” he said, a portal swirling into existence in front of them as he barked the last word. “Quick! Before we frickin’ get steamrolled by frogs, dude!”

 

* * *

 

They rematerialized in what indeed turned out to be a nearby cave, where they hit rock floor hard.

Lars rolled over off the two kids, groaning loudly. It was much too dark to see, so he blinked his magic glowing eyes on. A pitiful scene with some knocked-out kids was illuminated before him. He felt panic well up inside him but, although he was flustered, he kept his voice low. “Oh.. crud! Fff.. Steven!?”

Steven groaned, moving.

“Fff-Steven! Steven, wake up!”

Steven lingered in a state between reality and dreams for a second, only to really feel it when Lars slapped him across the face.

“Ah! I’m up! I’m up!”

Lars then turned to Connie, began to try to get her to wake a hell of a lot more gently than how he’d woken Steven. Steven came up into a crouch and nudged Lars, who quickly moved aside to make room.

“Is she-” Lars couldn’t say it.

“I-I don’t know,” Steven was shaking. He put his ear on her chest, but couldn’t tell because all he could hear was his own heartbeat, racing away. Steven licked a hand, but found that he was already crying anyway. The drops landed on her face.

The air above her face briefly took on a sparkling quality. Lars’ jaw dropped. Something was happening, something magical, and it was punctuated by Connie’s previously still form scrunching up her face and, finally, opening her eyes.

“Ugggh, my.. head..” she said at length, but even as she raised her hands to her head, any lingering pain was fading away. She opened her eyes suddenly and blinked. “S-Steven!?” She glanced around. “Where are we?”

“Connie! I’m so-” Steven was crying. “I-I thought you were-”

“What hap-” She gasped at his face as it dawned on her. She took a frantic moment to check out her arms in the glow of Lars’ eyes - her skin? Dark brown, as it had always been. She reached up - Her hair? Black as it ever was. She blinked, surprised, and smiled through happy tears.

“I’m not-” she gasped. “I didn’t-”

Steven cried happily, picking her up and hugging her.

“W-woah, hey! Easy - My bones!” She nonetheless hugged back.

“Your bones are fine,” Steven laughed.

“Woah. What even happened to me? It’s like I woke up just now with you guys looking like I died.”

“A rock hit you in the head, really hard - you weren’t awake or moving.” Steven shuddered, new tears spilling out, “I can still hear the cracking sound it made..”

“Oh, that sounds..” she frowned. “Sounds like my skull was broken,” she blinked, suddenly alarmed, raising her hands to explore her scalp - it was all perfectly intact. “I could’ve had.. brain damage or.. been.. in a coma! Maybe forever!” Her eyes darted over at him. “No! Steven, don’t cry! Look - I’m fine now. You’re only going to get dehydrated.” Then, as an afterthought, “Please don’t tell my mom and dad about this..”

Another sob, not from Steven. She turned to find Lars crouching nearby under the low ceiling of the cave, trying to shove the tears back inside his face with his forearm. Such emotional boys, she thought to herself.

“ _Lars!_ I’m okay,” said Connie, going up to him and placing a hand on his arm. “Can you both please stop crying?”

“I. I overheard you talking, that first day at the lake.” Lars said suddenly, moving his arm away from her touch. “I didn’t mean to, but then.. I didn’t stop, either.”

“Hey, we know,” said Connie.

He hesitated, wincing. “You knew?!”

“Yeah,” she continued. “It was super obvious when you suddenly began blasting your music through your headphones.”

“..Dang.”

“Doesn’t matter,” said Steven, wiping his own tears away at last. “I don’t think we were trying to be quiet.”

Lars sunk into guilt. “Well, I coulda said something at any time..”

Connie gazed up at him. “Since you heard everything, you must’ve heard me be okay with the possibility of becoming pink too, someday.”

Lars reluctantly confirmed, “I did..”

“ _Well,_ I never actually-” She hesitated. “.. _Can_ I ask you about it?”

Lars’ eyes widened. “Of course.”

“What _is_ it like?” She couldn’t hold back the curiosity that radiated from her. “Dying. Being.. pink.”

Lars paused a moment to think before replying. “It’s really, really.. confusing. Dying was easy, but like, now I’m some kinda gem-thing? Some kind of incredibly useful.. space wizard!? I don’t have to eat, sleep.. Extreme temperatures no longer bother me? Am I.. meant to be some kind of rose quartz familiar now? Like, a Bag of Infinite Holding? AoE support guy? All of the above?”

“This isn’t an MMORPG, Lars,” said Connie, not entirely sure how seriously to take him.

Lars was frustrated. “I KNOW it’s not! But it’s all I have to compare it to. And then it’s, like, hard to think about what it’s gunna be like when I go home.. And I just _know_ Ronaldo’s gonna wanna feature me on his blog. I’m surprised he hasn’t asked to call or come through or whatever.”

“He has,” said Steven. “Heaps of times, but the gems don’t want him back inside the house.”

“..Oh. That’s.. hilarious. But anyway, Connie, I mean, you were right; bring pink beats being dead.”

Connie appeared thoughtful, but Steven was alarmed by all this. “You’re not _meant_ to be anything except alive and free to do whatever you want!”

Lars shrugged casually. “Yeah, the question of my free will isn’t an issue - I’m still friggin’ butting heads with you after all - and I know I _could_ waste this weird second life away if I wanted to, but it’s a.. thinker. Y’know? I have new questions all the time.”

Steven looked up at him remorsefully. “Lars, it’s okay. Whatever being pink is _supposed_ to mean, if you never want to see me again when you’re back home, it’s okay. I-I.. I just don’t have any answers for you. I’m sor-”

Lars calmly held up a hand, cutting him off. “ _Shove_ it, Steven. I told you - it’s fine. We’re friends now, and I know you’re just a guy - _not_ Rose Quartz. I’m not happy I died or whatever, but however it had to go down, I’m lucky you were there to cry on me. Do you think it’s weird I never thanked you for that?”

Steven blinked, frowning up at him. “I don’t wanna be thanked.”

“Cool. I don’t wanna be said sorry to.”

Outside the cave, a heavy blanket of warm rain began to pour down.

“There’s that rain,” murmured Connie.

“..What do you mean we’re friends _now?_ ” asked Steven, mystified.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Any Guild Wars 2 players reading this - Totally based the incredibly belligerent frog people on the heket. I heart those things.
> 
> Camp Nano is next month, which interests me - does anyone here do that?


	12. The Shards.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Whose terrible idea was it to go to a mud planet?!

Gigantic Amethyst, who had a small green Peridot clinging to the hair on the top of her head, was still driving back frog creatures in the darkness and the rain. It had come to the point where it was beyond ridiculous. She was aware they’d gradually lost track of where they were in relation to the ruins, but she was sure they could find their way back later.

These frogs, though. Boy, were they mad and forever chanting about their heavy dislike for gems to boot - it was becoming demoralizing. The creatures, in a frenzy, hadn’t relented. Or, had they been coming and going in waves this whole time? As far as any of them were aware, organic life was simply incapable of possessing the stamina required to fight for this long uninterrupted, so it had to be the latter hypothesis. But they couldn’t be sure, especially in the darkness.

The creatures had not been put off by the massive fusion - in fact, it had only made them seem more determined to swarm. Every so often they would even surge upward, climbing up onto of their comrades, in a squirming organic pseudo-fusion of their own, in order to try to overwhelm the fusion. For a start, Peridot’s ability to maneuver the Roaming Eye as a flying smashing tool was effective at slowing the process down, but the ship was gone now; Peridot long having retired to the top of the fusion’s head for safety.

Their only advantage now was that they were big.

But it had dragged on a bit long, and the fusion was beginning to falter. A sure sign of this was when the frogs had begun attempting to simply climb the fusion instead. Gigantic Amethyst gradually found it harder and harder to simply brush them off. Frogs could be sticky when they felt like it, it seemed.

More and more frogs swarmed upwards, covering her legs, butt, torso and finally closing in on the most accessible of her gems - the chest. They had rocks and were ready to shatter - She was in trouble, and she knew it. Peridot wasn’t helping with all her terrified shouts of encouragement, either. But the fusion was resourceful and, just as she could finally start to feel the first of the frogmen clambering around her chest gem, she decided on a plan.

“Yo, Peridot, brace yourself,” she said.

Peridot glanced over the side of her head, panicked. “What are you going to do!?”

“This,” said Gigantic Amethyst in a very helpful way.

She tensed her arms, which were relatively frogman-free, and grit her teeth. She let out a huge, raging scream as a massive burst of purple energy exploded from all three of her gemstones all of a sudden and pulsated out away from her form. The frogmen found themselves suddenly airborne - blasted away from her body moments before the fusion suddenly came apart.

Peridot and three individual amethysts plunged into swampy mud.

“Ugh,” groaned Amethyst, raising her head slightly. “I’ve.. _definitely_ felt like this before..”

The four of them, half-stunned, scrambled to stagger to their feet in the mud, fists raised, ready to fight some more. They were surprised, however, to find that they were now alone in the pouring rain.

The frogs had finally retreated.

Confusion reigned. “Uh, _what!?_ ” Wy asked no on in particular. “Where did they go!?”

“Maybeeee..” Amethyst frowned, lowering her fists, “Uhh.. their favorite show is on?”

“Clearly they hate light!” said Peridot, suddenly. “And you used the last of your combined energy blasting them.. with light!”

The amethysts blinked at each other a moment, and then smiled and relaxed.

“Haha, wicked!” said Amethyst, holding up a hand for a high five. Peridot reluctantly returned it.

“Totally planned, yup. All part of our careful plan,” said Zee, nodding.

“We’re so great!” smiled Wy, still wobbly on her gravity connectors.

“Yeah, well,” Peridot rolled her eyes. “I hate to ‘bum’ everyone out, but we really should be going, shouldn’t we? They could still regroup. And guess what? You’re all out of energy! We’ll be shattered!”

 

* * *

 

“I hope the others had the same idea as us,” said Amethyst as she, Peridot and the other two Amethysts bunkered down in their own cramped little cave somewhere, some time later. The rain, heavy and warm, was unrelenting and they quickly decided it would be better to hole up until it passed than stay out in it getting more lost. Amethyst at length tore her eyes from the ceaseless downpour as Zee spoke.

“I can’t believe we lost the Roaming Eye,” groaned Zee as, sitting, she brought her knee into her torso in a light stretch and held it there.

“My hand slipped - I told you!” said Peridot, who was standing nearby, scraping wet mud from her hair. “But I saw the trajectory it took and the direction it went in. We’ll find it. It can’t have gone far.”

“Yeah,” shrugged Amethyst. “We’ll get it back once the rain stops and we can actually see out there. Ugh! How did we not know it was going to rain so bad!” She blinked. “Oh.. right. No Garnet. And.. no weather reports.”

“Weather.. reports?” Zee laughed at the preposterous idea. “What kind of malformed, cracked gem would bother reporting on weather.”

Wy laughed too. “Imagine being on Sigma III.. or Homeworld and logging a report every ten seconds just to say there’s still no weather.”

“Oh, weather is a big thing on Earth,” started Peridot, raising a finger. “I’ve seen their daily reports come up over the ‘tele-vision’. Humans can even predict what it’s about to do most of the time.”

“Do they.. get Garnet to make the predictions?” asked Wy, mystified.

“Oh, nonono. Garnet has waaay better things to do,” said Amethyst. “Instead, there are these satellites that the humans made and put into orbit around Earth.. I think they started doing this about sixty or seventy years ago. When we first heard about it, me, Pearl, Garnet and.. Rose, we laughed and laughed.” She glanced down at the rock floor below her and chuckled briefly. “We didn’t think they’d be able to do it, but they did. They use them to study Earth and track the weather, and even figured out how to predict what it’s going to do over the coming days. They’ve even gone to Earth’s moon in person!”

“So humans just.. prepare for whatever weather? They never tried simply stripping the atmosphere right back to nothing?” asked Zee, surprised.

Amethyst raised an eyebrow at her friend. “Uh, yeah, so.. they wouldn’t survive if they did that. Nothing on Earth would. Kinda the whole point of the rebellion was to, uh, stop that from happening.”

“..Oh. Right,” said Zee, understanding. “Humans need air. I forgot that for a moment.”

“You guys are terrible zookeepers,” laughed Amethyst.

“But it’s not just that,” Peridot jumped in. “The Earth itself needs both sun and rain, or nothing would grow. The seasons tell the trees when to drop their leaves, which fall back to the Earth and provide nutrients for the following growth period.. and it’s a yearly cycle that keeps going round and round. There’s a raw, untamed beauty to it that you just don’t get on any of the more established colonies.”

“Yeah!” chimed Amethyst. “As long as I’ve known them, humans have always just been.. really in tune with their planet. It’s been pretty cool seeing them slowly figure it all out.”

Wy’s jaw dropped. She stared out into the rain again, feeling a new appreciation for it. “Wow.. The containment area must feel like a _mockery_ in comparison. No wonder Lars misses Earth so much. Earth and that Sadie of his that he talks about sometimes.”

“Haha!” Amethyst laughed. “He’s crazy if he thinks that’s ever going to work.”

“Aw,” said Wy. “Well hey, as long as wild Earth humans are nothing like those swarming creatures we just shook loose of, I’ll be pleased to finally be able to live on Earth somecycle.”

“Oh, yeah,” said Amethyst reassuringly. “Just.. personal experience? If you don’t want to be swarmed, don’t try eating any wasp nests and you’ll be fine.”

“Of course, of course,” nodded Zee as if she had any idea what Amethyst was talking about.

“We should try contacting the others,” said Peridot. “Does anyone still have their short-range visually-subtle two-way communication devices? I think I lost my one during the failed fusion attempt.” As an aside, she glared at Wy. “I know _you_ already destroyed yours on purpose back on Sigma III.”

Zee and Amethyst checked, but ultimately, they came up with nothing. Peridot frowned. “What! It took me hours to steal the Earth technology required to make those things!”

“Settle down, P,” said Zee with confidence. “We’ll find them.”

Peridot lamented. “How are we ever going to find them! They’re so little and fragile, and they’re out in the muddy rain all alone!”

Amethyst raised an eyebrow at her weird green friend. “I’m talking about the _kids_ , not the ear-things, dude.”

“Oh,” said Peridot. “Yeah. I was talking about them too.”

 

* * *

 

The mostly human populated cave was well sheltered from the rain that continued pouring down. Connie had placed a small lamp from her backpack in the center of the floor of the cave, illuminating the area in a soft glow. Lars had been glad to switch his glowing eyes off in favor of it.

“This muggy heat is the worst,” said Connie, downing another few mouthfuls of water in the dim light. “Let’s fuse again, Steven. It felt slightly better as Stevonnie.”

“Huh?” Steven was a little distracted by the guilty feelings he’d been harboring. They had been hammering away at him ever since he’d started just being Steven again and were, of course, amplified by the fact that Connie had briefly come to serious harm. The fact that he’d healed her had no bearing on how he was feeling as a result. “Oh, uh, sure,” he mumbled.

A moment later, Stevonnie was back in action.

“Is it really better?” asked a doubtful Lars.

“..One iota better,” whined Stevonnie. “Ugh. Why’d they have to rope me back into thiiis. We’ve got to get out of here. Lars.”

Lars was reluctant suddenly. “Uh, you wanna try to fuse with.. me? Maybe being one third pink could.. help?”

The Steven part of Stevonnie baulked at the idea, so the fusion declined. “Thanks, Lars, but no. I think it was my fault the mega fusion failed. I just.. feel so gross and bad inside. I am sure it’s just the heat though.”

Lars shrugged, not seeing many options. “We’re better off waiting here for the rain to stop. Beats getting lost out there, and possibly killed by frogs which is something I don’t really wanna do this cycle.”

Stevonnie had to admit that made sense. “Well.. do you mind if I have something to eat?”

Lars suddenly snapped. “Just go home! If it feels like the devil’s sauna and you’re so miserable, I don’t understand why you won’t just _go!_ ”

“Y-you’d be alone!” came Stevonnie’s lame response.

“I’m at peak Being Able To Look After Myself right now, y’know,” he retorted. “Ugh. Screw this. Eat your food. I’m going to be lookout.” Lars hauled himself up.

“Do you want anything to eat too?”

“No.”

He went over to the entrance of the cave as Stevonnie rummaged through their pack for protein bars. Connie of course had the foresight of bringing along a little butane-fueled hiking stove, but there was too much effort involved in that and the idea of making the net temperature in the cave rise even slightly higher was unappealing. After a moment or three, Lars returned from the entrance and lay down on his back nearby.

“What’s up?” asked Stevonnie, pulling up a protein bar and hesitating mid-action.

“It struck me that I’m bright pink on a mud planet. I make a terrible lookout.”

“Ohh. That sucks.”

“And I couldn’t see anything anyway with the rain and the dark.” He shrugged. “It seems fine.”

“Well, nevermind.” Stevonnie chewed a moment. “Are you.. sure you don’t at least want a bite? I mean, Lion seems like he needs to eat _sometimes_..”

He considered a moment, then extended an arm over more out of curiosity than hunger. “Maybe a bite.”

Stevonnie passed him the bar they were working on, and Lars took his bite. As he chewed, he studied the wrapper. “Huh.”

“What?”

Lars pulled a face. “Is this what you’ve been eating when you’re in space?”

“Yeah. Why?”

He looked annoyed. “Kinda bland, right? At least bring something you can taste. I know it’s space an’ all, but the food doesn’t all have to be tasteless blocks of nutrient paste like in those space games. Doesn’t Steven love donuts!? He’s a terrible liar, so I’m faaaaaaaairly certain he does!”

Stevonnie was confused by this latest rant and took their bar back defensively. “What are you talking about? I like it. Tastes like chocolate.”

Lars glared at them. “Tastes like _nothing._ ”

Stevonnie didn’t know what to tell him. “Well.. I disagree!”

“Hmf. If I could, I’d cook us something decent.”

“I have a little gas stove, but it’s mostly just to boil up freeze-dried packaged food that I have a feeling you’re _also_ going to frown at me about.” They predicted correctly and rolled their eyes. “We didn’t come to this planet to all have a lovely picnic together, Lars!”

“..Yeah, okay.” Lars sunk at his shoulders a little. “I.. guess I’m only getting wound up because.. I really miss baking.”

Stevonnie immediately softened. “..I know.”

“I even miss its dim-witted inbred cousin, cooking.” He groaned. “And living in mud _sucks_! It’s all inside my boots.. I’m gunna try call them again,” he said as he hit the button on his ear phone.

 **Lars:** Hello?

A few moments passed.

“Still nothing?” said Stevonnie glumly.

“Nah,” replied Lars. “Wait - you don’t have yours?”

Stevonnie seemed reluctant to say, “I lost my ear-thing when Connie got, uh.. knocked out.”

“Ffff. Far out. Really?”

Stevonnie glanced down at him, mildly amused despite the oppressive heat in the cave. “What, are you on a swearing sabbatical or something? Saving them up for a special occasion?”

Lars shrugged. “I been trying to curb it lately since you guys seem to hate it.”

Stevonnie blinked, and smiled a little, touched. “Oh! Thanks!”

“Don’t mention it.”

 **Lars:** Guys? If you can hear this, me and Stevonnie are safe. We’re just waiting out this rain in some cave.

“Stevonnie and _I,_ ” corrected the Connie part of Stevonnie.

“..Still nothing. Should we actually be worried?” asked Lars after a moment.

Stevonnie sure looked worried. “We should look for them when the rain-”

“Ughh. But.. Gigantic Amethyst said to stay put. They’re probably just going to head back to where they left us when they’re done hulking out.”

“You’re right. We should go back to where we were all last together.”

“You should rest up. I’ll wake you once the rain has cleared.”

 

* * *

 

Lars at some point had purposefully caked mud onto his face, warpaint style, and sat miserably near the entrance watching for trouble as the rain poured down. Stevonnie snoozed in the dark cave behind him. The daystar eventually rose, but under all the dense cloud Lars had no way of knowing that until the rain began to disperse and gradually eased back to nothing. He eventually found himself looking out over an even more muddy and rain drenched swampscape, still overcast - but the good news was there were no frog-creatures in sight.

It hurt him in the figurative sense, but he had to wake Stevonnie up as agreed. Once the poor fusion was again conscious in the gross warmth of the planet’s atmosphere, Lars immediately held out the bottled water for them, which they gratefully accepted and downed as they sat up.

“Weather’s better?” they asked, stretching.

He nodded. “And it’s light. We should go.”

Soon they left the cave and stood around, surveying the surroundings. Lars pointed and Stevonnie nodded grimly. Soon, they stepped out onto the hill they had portalled in from and in the dim light of day, were much better able to figure out where to go.

“The frog guys..” Stevonnie scanned the area for signs of them. “They only turned up after it got dark. They recoiled from the light the fusions.. I guess they’re nocturnal, like the frogs on Earth. Or they just hate light.”

“Yeah, almost as much as they hate gems,” observed Lars.

“Well, no sign of our friends.. But - Oh, there it is!” Stevonnie pointed. The ruins - recognizable by an oddly-intact spire that they remembered from the day before - were far off in the distance. Lars braced himself to make a sweet portal there, but Stevonnie stopped him.

“If we walk, maybe we’ll run into the others sooner?”

“If we portal, we can keep looking and maybe we’ll get off this toilet planet sooner.”

They narrowed their eyes at each other’s good points before an impromptu game of rock paper scissors took place.

Lars punched the air. “Ysssss! Go scissors!”

“Portal it is,” said Stevonnie.

* * *

There was no sign of the amethysts or Peridot at the ruins. After reassuring each other that they were simply still on their way back from wherever they ended up, Stevonnie and Lars resumed the search.

There was a quadrant that hadn’t really been searched yet, so they focused on that. It contained a half-collapsed once-elaborate building, now just a mess in the muck. They entered it cautiously, Stevonnie casting a flashlight around.

Some time later, they managed to shove a door open, revealing a darkened ancient room. The inside had a bunch of bones littering the floor. Most likely frog bones.

“..Look at that. Not ominous at all,” said Lars, scared. “What.. happened here?”

“It’s just like Amethyst’s room,” said Stevonnie, awed, as they took a step inside.

They entered cautiously, looking around. Glancing up, there it was - deep pink shards in a pale pink bubble floating in the highest point of the ceiling.

Both of them did a hilarious double-take before Lars took a breath to make a portal up there, but Stevonnie placed a hand on his shoulder briefly. He stepped back as they explained, “Let me.”

Stevonnie jumped - not as high as they had the previous evening but still much higher than any human should reasonably be able to jump, and shortly landed back down with the bubble in their hands. Staring down at the shards within the bubble, the expression on their face betrayed their sudden uncertainty about this entire venture.

Lars spoke into his communicator.

 **Lars:** Hey! If anyone’s out there, we’ve got the shards-

He released the button on the ear-thing as he noticed how intently Stevonnie was staring at the bubble. Their brainmeats were obviously deeply engaged in thought, and this made Lars anxious.

“What!? No!” he urged them. “Wait till the others get here! Maybe we have half a chance of poofing her! Better yet, wait till we’re back at the Zoo! There are heaps of actual soldiers there, remember?! They’ll help!”

Stevonnie seemed busy contemplating their own thing, so Lars in a last ditch effort tried the communicator again for some backup.

 **Lars:** Hurry!

 **Amethyst:** Hey Donut Boy! You said something about the shards!?

 **Lars:** Hah! Amethyst! Yeah, we’ve got shards for days! Where the hell have you-

 **Amethyst:** There was a whole thing with those frogs! There were so many, we fought for hours! Then there was the rain.. Then it began to get light and they disappeared. We lost our ear-things too, but we found this one just now, and it works! Tell me you guys are safe.

 **Lars:** Yeah, man, me and Stevonnie. You?

 **Amethyst:** Yep. P, Zee and Wy are still with me.

 **Lars:** And.. that’s everyone accounted for, right?

 **Amethyst:** Y… yeah! Great! We’re still dealing with this mud, so wait up! Or - can you portal us?

 **Lars:** Uh.. where are you?

 **Amethyst:** Waist deep in mud! But it’s cool, cuz me and P are sitting on Wy and Zee’s heads!

 **Lars:** I can’t punch a portal to somewhere I don’t- Augh! Just tell them to wade faster! And let me know when you’re here.

“They’re even on their way,” added Lars.

Stevonnie hadn’t been listening. They were having a heated crisis in their own head. They gingerly licked their hands.

“-No? You’re.. really going to do it right here? Okay..” said Lars, pulling the destabilizer once again from his forehead and looking incredibly worried.

Suddenly, the bubble popped. The shards fell the minuscule distance into Stevonnie’s cupped, saliva-coated hands. They waited.

Nothing happened.

They blinked. “..No?! Maybe.. tears?”

Lars grit his teeth as Stevonnie shut their eyes, willing themself to cry. However, what they were feeling was more confusion and anger than empathy for these broken shards. Unable to cry, they unfused instead.

Steven spoke quietly. “I used to think she was amazing. She inspired me. Thinking about her, how she organized the rebellion and saved the Earth against all the odds.. But now.. she,” his breath caught in his throat as he thought about the split-up consciousness that could still be contained, possibly in agony, within the shrapnel in his hands. “How could she _do this?_ ”

“Yeah, I get that,” said Connie, carefully passing the half of the shards that went with her when they unfused back to Steven. “But, Steven - remember that Pink Diamond was always intending to destroy the Earth. This may have been the only option Rose Quartz had.”

Lars quietly passed her the sword from his head. She took it. “Thanks.”

“I know,” Steven said in a small voice as be began to tear up. Not only because of Diamonds or their shards, but because of what he’d said to Pearl, days earlier. And the terms on which he’d left her. But it had been what felt like his only option..

He quickly cried on the shards in his hands.

They all waited a tense, breathless moment.. as nothing happened.

Steven stared down at the jagged pink pieces, heart pounding. “No. No! _What?!_ Wh. Why!?”

Steven dropped to his knees, hunched over, staring at the pathetic broken shards in his hands. “Does it.. not always work? Is she too damaged?” he asked these questions mostly of himself, all the while dropping more tears. “Has it been too long? Am I not sad enough? Is it because I didn’t _know_ her? I didn’t.. love her!?” came all the sad questions that he knew no one could answer. His voice cracked. “A-all of the above? Or is it something else!?”

Connie and Lars each stood staring wide-eyed, weapons lowered, unable to speak. On some not-so-deep level, they both expected it to work.

Until that moment, both of them _knew_ that it would undoubtedly happen that Pink Diamond entered the arena of existence once again. To the two humans, having benefited in profound ways from Steven’s healing power, a hypothetical world in which it failed to work was unthinkable. Impossible.

_There but for the grace of.._

Steven stiffened at the shoulders, straightening his back as a different realization hit him at once. “We came all this way for nothing.”

He shut his eyes, grit his teeth and stood up. He clutched the shards in tight fists, even as a couple of the sharp edges cut into his palms. His friends glanced from the shards in his hands up to his eyes in an instant, stepping back slightly as Steven started to shout. “WHY are you being so.. quiet! What are we even doing here! What are _you guys_ doing here! Neither of you asked for this! Connie, Lars - you risked yourselves for me! I dragged you out here, you fought so hard and Connie, you.. you nearly..” he couldn’t say it. “-Just to watch me _fail_ at this!”

He huffed a moment before shouting, “Things could easily be much simpler for the both of you if you guys just forgot about me!”

In exchange, he only received frowns from both his friends.

“ _Dragged_ us out here!?” started Lars, suddenly irritable. “Listen, guy. I asked for this big time when I decided I’d rather stay in space than go home without my crew. I asked for this the second I offered my head up as a link to gem space. I was excited about this mission - I wanted it to happen! And Connie asked for it when she took up sword training, and she asks for it every time _she_ decides to come out here to space with you! _Her_ decision, dude. Not yours.”

“Yeah,” Connie agreed, sheathing the sword. “We only came out here on the pretext that her shards _might_ be here. That it _might_ work! Even if we never found her, it was always going to be worth a look.. even despite how horrible it is here.” She put her hands on her hips. “You didn’t make us come here with you. Do you really think either of us would be here if we didn’t want to be? Why can’t you trust us by not second-guessing us or why we’re here with you. In fact, the one thing about all this that I didn’t ask for was to help you play into your own pity parade. I’m certain Lars didn’t either.” She narrowed her eyes at him. “It’s a little insulting.”

The words sat heavy on Steven’s head. “Oh no. That’s.. exactly how Pearl is treating me.”

“Huh?” came a small confused chorus from his friends.

Lars held up a finger as Amethyst interrupted via the earpiece again.

_Amethyst: We’re here! Where are you guys? Buzz us in!_

_Lars: Yo, no problem._

Lars threw a portal down to the middle of the ruins, and in short order their missing friends landed in front of them.

Amethyst had her whip at the ready, Wy and Zee had fists raised and teeth grit, while Peridot had an army of small floating metal scraps hovering around her. They were all dripping with wet mud yet, somehow, they managed to look ready to fight a diamond.

“You guys!” shouted Peridot.

Lars and Connie smiled happily, relieved.

“Oh my gosh! Where have you been!?” said Connie.

“It’s so good to see you guys!” said Lars.

“Enough - Where is she!?” shouted Zee, one thousand percent ready.

“It didn’t work,” Steven said in a low voice, holding the shards up for them to see.

They lowered their weapons and fists as they regarded the shards with awe.

“Wow,” breathed Zee, taking a slight step back. “Is that.. really her?”

“Well..” said Peridot, letting her metallic scraps fall. “At least we had fun, right? Now let’s go find the Roaming Eye and get outta here.”

Lars and Connie gaped at her. “You LOST the SHIP!?!” they gasped simultaneously.

“It’s fine! We’ll find it in no time,” Peridot reassured them. “..And if not, we have the whole of this ‘daytime’ period to find it before those frogs come back, soooo..” she shrugged, unsure of what else to tell them.

Steven shook his head. “Everyone. I have a confession to make. It’s.. not just the damp heat.”

Connie and Lars couldn’t even feign surprise.

He continued. “When I went back to Earth to explain the mission, Pearl.. didn’t think it was a good idea. And I didn’t even see Garnet to talk to her about it.”

“WHAT?” Amethyst’s voice was an octave higher than normal.

“Uh, you’re saying this is an unauthorized mission?” asked Zee.

Steven winced and continued. “Pearl and I.. we actually got into a huge weird argument about it, and then I stole the Wailing Stone and ditched it in the Pink Dimension on my way back so she couldn’t get in contact with with Zoo.. and.. I.. I lied to everyone.” He blinked as he found one more thing to feel guilty about. “No. Actually, I.. lied to Lars, and he unknowingly lied on my behalf to everyone else.”

He was met with silence amid a chorus of blank stares, to be broken by Lars.

“Steven.. That’s so badass,” Lars was a little impressed. “I don’t even care that you got me to do your dirtywork.”

Amethyst shot Lars a dirty look as he pre-emptively undermined her admonishment. “What were you thinking!?” she asked of Steven.

“Steven, my gosh.” said Connie. “We shared a brain for.. days!! Why didn’t you tell me!?”

“This isn’t like you, dude,” Amethyst shook her head. “Sure - we did something cool because of it, even if the plan to bring her back didn’t work. But-”

Amethyst, wide-eyed, trailed off as she saw Steven sink. He said, quietly, “She doesn’t trust me.”

“What?” asked Amethyst.

“Pearl. On some level, she.. she must just think I’m still a stupid little kid and not a real gem. I have so many things I want to ask her, because she seems like she might know something important, but I’ve noticed that she does this whole _performance_ where she dodges all my questions.” He sighed. “She really makes a huge show out of not telling me whatever it is she can’t tell me, and I.. I don’t understand. It doesn’t make sense. I can’t handle it.”

He looked up at them with soft, watery eyes.

“Rose Quartz is my mom, and my life is jammed up because of that one fact. I can see how she was good, but then she was also bad. I have her gem now, and everything bad she ever did, I’m the one getting hit up about it. Jasper attacked me. Eyeball attacked me. Bismuth attacked me-”

“Long stories, we’ll do a Q&A later,” said Amethyst quickly as confusion spread over the appropriate faces.

Steven continued, “-I was even put on trial! Blue and Yellow Diamond were going to shatter my gem - And I-I didn’t know anything! In fact, I learned more about what happened from Blue Diamond and the defense Zircon during the trial than I ever learned from _her_.”

He blinked back angry tears.

“Oh, Steven,” said Connie. “That’s actually.. really understandable. No wonder you’ve been off lately.”

He sunk miserably as Amethyst held her hands out toward him. “Listen, Steven, you are a real Crystal Gem.”

He hid his face in his hands. Amethyst scrambled for words. “Look, don’t worry about Pearl. She’s always had some weird thing about the Diamonds. I was never able to talk to her about it either, and I had so many questions back in the day when I first met the others. Can you imagine just.. popping out the ground, without knowing anything, and you’re all alone? For _decades_? And all the questions you’d have?”

“N-no..” said Steven, sad now for her as well.

She smiled softly. “I guess what I mean to say is, I’ll always be right here with you. Even when you do crazy things like this.”

“Me too - shorty squad fo’ life!” enthused Peridot, putting her arms around the two and squeezing. This drew a laugh from Steven.

“Well, it’s just as well that the plan didn’t work,” said Wy. “It would have been so.. strange seeing Pink Diamond in the hard light again. Wouldn’t it?”

She’d aimed her question at Zee, who nodded in agreement. “It would have brought up emotions all right.”

The earthlings all stared at the two bigger amethysts.

Wy struggled for words. “Ugh. I don’t know how to explain it.. Is there even a way to explain it to a bunch of aliens who were never even made for a Diamond? Sure, she.. she wanted to build her first colony which would have destroyed the Earth, but she also created all of us..” She scratched her head, glancing at Zee, who merely shrugged.

“I think I know a little about what you mean,” said Steven, smiling a little as he bubbled the shards, now wet from tears and spit and mud. “Mother issues, right?”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> THEY’RE TALKING ABOUT THE SAME PERSON AAAAAH
> 
> End of Phase Two!
> 
> In case you’re confused - what they actually found were the decoy shards that Pink consumed in order to explode everywhere when she faked her shattering.
> 
> I’m not convinced Steven can heal shattered gems. I also have a feeling he can’t rez humans that he’s not emotionally invested in/dependent on, either. Too OP even for Steven. But that’s just me. While I’m sometimes okay with stories with rez powers, I also really like death to still matter. Anyone got any thoughts on this they wanna share?


	13. The Wind Down.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Somebody order a bunch of heart-to-hearts? No? Damn.. Well it’s been sent to this address - just take it! It’s already been paid for.

The Pink Dimension, lit eternally no matter the time of day on Earth, was as peaceful and serene as it had ever been. Amethyst could still neither make heads nor tails of it despite having used is as a thoroughfare it many times now. As she followed the breathless humans through the pink grasses swaying lightly in the breeze, she hesitated as her boot struck something. She bent down to rummage around before coming up with one of Lars’ things - the destabilizer he kept stowed away in there.

“Ah! Is this where he keeps it!?” She swing it around, trying to get a feel for it. “He should be more careful where he throws his stuff. He could destabilize someone. A little organization goes a long way.” The disparaging glances from the two humans weren’t lost on her. She smiled. “I know, I know, I’m one to talk..”

Something else caught her eye and she bent down to pick it up. It was a screwed-up piece of paper.

“What’s this crap? Is this his trashcan too?” she asked as she began to flatten it out. She found herself being stopped by a frowning Connie, who was holding her breath quite easily despite being lumbered by both sword and backpack.

“Augh, _fine._ I didn’t know you liked privacy so much,” Amethyst laughed as she threw the balled-up trash back down.

Steven had the bubbled shards of Pink Diamond floating above his hands. Before they’d left, there had been some debate as to where to keep them. The shards of a _diamond_ seemed far too dangerous to have just floating around in the basement back at the temple, or at the Zoo surrounded by such rough-and-tumble quartzes. Therefore, the decision had been made that the peaceful Pink Dimension was the only ideal option for now. He motioned for them to wait there while he hurried to the otherwise bare hill upon which the narra tree stood, and gently waved the bubble away.

It floated slowly up into the lower canopy and hung there.

Steven, his need for air growing, quickly turned and hurried back into the long pastel grasses. Together the three of them quietly made their way towards the acacia tree’s hill, past the lop-sided Wailing Stone that Steven had ditched there the last time he had passed through.

“Anyway.. just let me do the talking. And remember not to say a word about how we all almost died and/or got shattered back on that mud planet, okay?” Amethyst reminded them cheerfully.

 

* * *

 

Emerging from Lion’s mane, the trio found themselves in a forest - one that none of them recognized. Lion greeted them with a look of interest, sniffing them before leaping away after a squirrel. They did, however, recognize Garnet and Pearl standing together nearby. The two gems appeared to be admiring the scenery. Pearl stiffened when she noticed them.

“Steven! Connie!” she cried out as the humans caught their breath. She ran over. “You’re okay! You’re all.. okay!”

“Told you,” said Garnet simply as she walked over as well.

“Hey, what about me?” asked Amethyst.

“You too, Amethyst,” smiled Pearl.

Steven threatened to cry as he hugged Pearl’s right leg and Garnet’s left at the same time. “Pearl! Garnet! I’m so..”

Pearl frowned quickly. “Stop, stop. It’s okay. So, how did it.. go?” she suddenly asked.

“We found the diamond shards,” said Amethyst, eying Pearl with curiosity as she said it. “But.. nothing happened.”

Garnet tightened her lips, taking this in.

“Well, I could’ve told you that,” said Pearl, very carefully.

Steven narrowed his eyes, conflicted. _Why didn’t you_ , he wondered, but didn’t say.

“So anyway, Steven came clean with everyone about how he ran off and took the Wailing Stone,” shrugged Amethyst, continuing to eye Pearl in case she were to give something away. What she was expecting, however, she couldn’t quite say. “It was a pretty decent adventure though, and everyone was safe the _whole_ time.”

Steven and Connie both smiled very awkwardly here, but Amethyst continued talking.

“So, if you want my recommendation, I don’t think you should come down on him too hard.”

Pearl and Garnet exchanged glances.

“You shouldn’t have taken the Wailing Stone,” started Garnet.

“I.. I know-” Began Steven before Amethyst elbowed him to be quiet. But he wanted to say his piece. “-It was stupid. I know. I could have messed up the whole alliance we have with the Zoo. It won’t happen again.”

Pearl and Garnet exchanged glances before Garnet turned back to the kids.

“I can’t speak for Connie’s parents, but we’re just glad you’re safe and home,” she said with a smile.

“Why are you all.. so dirty? You three have dirt all over you!” asked Pearl, grimacing as she noticed the way it was everywhere.

“Mud planet,” Amethyst smiled widely - there was still mud on her teeth, and Pearl cringed at this - one reaction Amethyst fully expected and giggled at. Pearl merely looked disgusted in response - all completely normal behavior for her.

“Where.. are we?” asked Connie.

Garnet shrugged. “We were bored. We just took to following Lion around, waiting for you to show up.”

“Lion makes _a lot_ of portals during the course of his day,” said Pearl, obviously astounded by it all. “We have no _idea_ where we are.”

“Wow,” said Steven. “So there’s been-”

“-Nothing going on, correct,” said Garnet.

“Peaceful,” said Connie with a smile as a gentle breeze blew, rustling the canopy above them, real birdsong filling the air. Flowers all around them, harmless squirrels in the trees. “I missed this so much,” she added.

“Me too,” Steven agreed wholeheartedly. He laughed as Lion came over to boop his face with his nose. “And of course I missed you too, buddy!”

 

* * *

 

A few hours worth of work back at the beach house saw the re-installation of the Wailing Stone to the communications setup.

“And all we need to do now,” said Pearl, working at the console, “Is press this button-”

A quick test of the rig soon saw Captain Skinny Jasper standing in the purpink Bridge on the huge curved widescreen that Greg had purchased purely for the sci-fi aspect of the setup.

“Hah! We don’t need Peridot at all, now!” Pearl proclaimed in triumph.

“HEY,” yelled Peridot as she leaned into view of the screen on the Bridge of the Zoo. “I’m right here!”

Pearl laughed good-naturedly in response.

“Hi Peridot! Hi Captain Skinny!” shouted Steven, ecstatic to see them again despite only having just parted with them earlier that very day.

Skinny had been caught off-guard by the sudden greeting. “What’s going on? Is there an emergency!?”

Carnelian, Zee, Wy, Bea, and Lars also moved their faces into view of the screen, each one of them wearing an expression of concern. But Steven was quick to allay their fears.

“No, no!” he chuckled, scratching the back of his head. “We’re just testing the comms console.”

Pearl smiled widely, gazing out over the mess of wires attaching screen to equipment to stone and keyboards, all laid out over a desk. “Well, it all seems fine! It’s fixed. Now to just.. tidy it all up. I have cable ties.. somewhere,” she frowned to herself and went looking for them.

The Zoosters all breathed a collective sigh of relief, interrupted by Peridot who addressed Steven.

“Steven, I’m working here today. I need you to come by pick me up in time for improv tonight, though. Is this within the realms of what is possible for you?”

Steven, as usual, lived to help. “Yeah! I can’t wait to see tonight’s show!”

“It’s going to be great,” nodded Peridot, turning to the rest of the room she was in, out in space. “In fact, you should all come!”

The entire population of the Zoo’s Bridge - four of whom were easily much, much bigger than Lars not to mention his head - turned to look at him. He just looked afraid.

“Aw,” said Zee, smiling a little. “I don’t think any of us wants to put him through that, but we’ll make one of your ‘shows’ someday, Little P.”

“When we’re all back on Earth,” said Carnelian, who was pumped!

 

* * *

 

“Well, Pearl seems like normal, average old Pearl to me,” said Amethyst to Steven once she had managed to get him alone. The communications setup had been fixed, Garnet and Pearl had left to go get groceries, Connie was in the bathroom getting dressed after cleaning up, and the last of the mud had been scraped off everything and everyone as though the mud planet venture had never taken place.

Amethyst glanced at the boy with a concerned look. “She hasn’t mentioned anything. She seems okay.”

“I know,” replied Steven, happy at least to be clean for the first time in days. “It’s.. really weird.”

She studied him, unsure of what to make of all this. “Yeah well, my thing is.. are you _sure_ you weren’t, like, exaggerating how angry you were? Maybe you’d had a bad slice of pizza or something. It happens to the best of us.”

“What?” Steven was honestly surprised. “Wait - You don’t believe me!? It happened! It happened right here!”

Amethyst held up her hands in what she hoped was a calming way. “Steven, I believe you. I just.. can’t picture it. Maybe if you tell me again what happened-”

Steven placed his hands on his face, a little frustrated. “I should have just brought you back with me that morning when I went to talk to her about the mission! Then you could have seen it for yourself.”

“Well all I know is that she seems okay now.” She smiled softly at the look he gave her in response. “Heey, Stee-man, I feel you! And I’m on your side, dude, always.” She paused. “But for now, I’m off to town! I told Vidalia I’d see her sometime this week.. but it turns out that I’ve completely forgotten which week I meant, and she ain’t gettin’ any younger! Tell Connie ciao from me!”

Steven waved as Amethyst left the house. Connie chose this moment to exit the bathroom, finally mud-free.

“Oh.. where did Amethyst go?”

“She had to go catch up with someone. She said to say ciao.”

Steven took a seat on the couch and watched as Connie picked her phone up from the shelf she’d left it on before heading off into space more than a week ago. Not long after she turned it on, it began to blear and vibrate as messages and missed calls started to register on the device. The color drained from her face when it wouldn’t stop within a reasonable time-frame.

“Oh no,” she groaned.

Steven glanced over. “Didn’t you tell your mom that there’s no reception in space?”

She nodded as the phone continued to buzz. “Of course I did. But it looks like she’s been, uhh, pretty worried.” She jumped as the ringtone sounded in the middle of it all - this assault was happening now. She scrambled to pick the call up and held the phone to her ear.

“Hey mom! Yeah, it’s really me! .. Yeah, we’re back from space! Yeah! Yeah! ..Uh-huh? .. No. No? Uh.. mom, everything’s fine. Yes. I’m safe, okay? We all are.”

Steven, a guilty look on his face, twiddled his thumbs for a long moment as Connie sought to calm her mother down.

“Mom! Stop! Yeah,” she was saying, “Well it’s a long.. I’ll tell you what happened, I promise. Maybe there’s a way to talk on the phone when I’m in space - I’ll ask Peridot! ..Yes. I can borrow Lion and come home in no time! I’ll see you soon - I promise! .. Of course, mom! I love you, too!”

At last, she hung up and turned her attention back to Steven. “Pretty sure I’m grounded for real this time,” she admitted to him with a sad smile. “Hey, I.. _can_ borrow Lion, can’t I?”

“Oh. That’s really up to him.” He had a look on his face like he was going to say more and, presently, he did. “Hey.. Connie?”

She glanced up from straightening out the insides of her backpack. “Yeah?”

Unable to keep the emotion out of his voice, Steven spoke softly. “Since.. since my resurrection-thing doesn’t seem to work every time, it’s okay if you don’t want to-”

She reached towards his face and gently pinched his lips together with her thumb and forefinger. When he had stopped talking in order to stare up at her questioningly, she smiled. “There. That’s much better.”

Steven raised an eyebrow. “I’m being serious,” he insisted, half-muffled by his pinched lips. “My concerns are valid.”

She took her hand away from his face and sat down on the couch beside him. “I know, but we’re Jam Buds. That means we never give up on each other, right?”

In response, he smiled. “You can’t just invent new rules for Jam Buds whenever you like.”

“It’s not just a rule. It’s an enforceable bylaw.”

“Well, there’s nothing in the Jam Bud Constitution that says you can just-”

Connie stared at him intensely. “I can. And guess what? Just did. Also, what are you talking about ‘new’? Except for that one time.. it’s always been this way between us!” She smiled. “Remember when we first met and that corrupted sea worm attacked us?”

He spread his arms wide. “We were in that together because we were trapped and had no choice!”

She sighed. “Man, why can’t corrupted gems ever just be cute and fuzzy, you know? Like a kitten. Or a bunny.”

Steven snorted in slight laughter. She smiled at this. “Well, remember when we ran away from our families to start a new life together? Also, how we beat Jasper together!?”

But she couldn’t completely cheer him up right at this moment. “You almost died, Connie. You can’t just blindly count on my being able to bring you back like it’s not a problem. There are huge consequences that you can’t just.. switch off.”

She suddenly became very serious and looked him straight in the eye. “I hear you, Steven. But we’ve already had this conversation. I need you to believe me when I say I know what I’ve got myself into. I want to protect the Earth too. It’s my home.”

Steven’s gaze dropped to the floor. “I know. I.. believe you.”

She offered him a hug, and he accepted it gratefully.

Lion suddenly dropped down from the mezzanine floor to nudge Connie. This of all things caused Steven to laugh. “Looks like Lion doesn’t want you to get into more trouble than you already are.”

“You’re right,” Connie smirked before grabbing her backpack and jumping up onto Lion’s back. “Bye, Steven. I’ll see you soon! Or.. I’ll let you know how long I’m grounded for,” she laughed, before stopping short and looking over at him. “Are you going to try to talk to Pearl?”

“Of course,” said Steven. He couldn’t hide that he was a little worried about the idea.

“Well, let me know how it goes,” she smiled.

“Bye, Connie,” he smiled back and waved as girl and lion both in short order disappeared into a portal.

He found himself alone in his house and just kind of sat there, existing, for a moment.

It was fine. It was.. peaceful. For the first time ever, he found he could profoundly appreciate the lack of mud and giant belligerent frogs in his life.

He noticed his stomach beginning to grumble at him - it was in quite a temper. Glancing at the clock, he saw that it was early evening and suddenly it all made sense - he was starving. Wandering over to the kitchen, he climbed up onto his stepping stool in order to rummage around in the pantry. His hand fell on a packet of noodles, and after a short zap in the microwave, he was sitting eating noodles on the couch.

The door slid open, and he glanced over mid-slurp to see Garnet entering the room. “Garnet! Hi!” he waved, slurping down the last of his meal.

“Noodles,” she noted. “Hm. You.. may want to consider something more nourishing.”

He shrugged. “My tummy was rumbling. I just wanted something quick and easy. I’ll have something better later.”

She nodded, pleased by his choice of mouthwords.

“So it’s.. been a while, huh?” Steven continued, a little sheepishly as he walked over to her. “Do you want to hang out?”

“I was about to suggest the same thing,” said Garnet with a small smile.

“Cool!” Steven was pumped. “What do you wanna do!?”

“Nothing too wild. I know you’ve just come back from a big adventure out in space. Come. Sit outside with me. You should tell me about it.”

She motioned for him to follow her out the front door, outside onto the deck of the house. He did so, and then began to make his way over to the picnic table. But Garnet had other ideas. He didn’t get very far before she scooped him up into her arms and leapt high into the air with him.

Steven, taken aback at first, yelled in fright but it quickly gave way to laughter and then an awed silence as they sailed in a massive arc away from the beach, over the hill, past the town, over the water of the bay - the wind whipping their hair and Steven’s clothing as they moved through it. Despite the enormity of space, which he was admittedly becoming more and more accustomed to, the Earth still seemed so big around him, melting into the the friendly subtle haze of the horizon which made the world appear to stretch on forever.

It was full of color and movement and as he passed through this utterly unique moment with one of his favorite people, he felt his insides fill with joy and an odd sort of peace despite everything he was worried about.

Finally, Garnet landed neatly with him still in her arms. She let him down gently. Steven glanced around as she went to sit down, cross-legged, at the edge of a nearby cliff.

“Hey,” he said, following her over. “This is Brooding Hill.”

She nodded, looking out over the scenery. “Indeed. Lately I’ve been seeking space to myself to just sit and be.. open to the cosmos.”

“You’ve been meditating?” he asked as he sat down beside her, letting his legs swing out over the edge of the cliff.

“Yes,” she replied simply.

“Well.. if you want to be alone, why bring me?”

“Because I’ve missed you, Steven.”

He smiled softly up at her, quite touched by this. But she stared out over the landforms that trailed away and became Beach City off in the distance, out over the ocean. He turned his head to follow her gaze and they sat like that for some time before Garnet began speaking again.

“My inability to see you leaving us for a week hit me hard.” She hunched forward into herself. “But don’t misunderstand me. I’m not angry - I’m trying so hard to see what could be coming but..” She inhaled deeply and held it for a moment. She thought back to how much easier things were in the past. In the far-flung, distant past, when Ruby only had her squad and her assigned tasks to worry about. When Sapphire saw not rivers and streams, but a single arrow that sped in a perfectly straight, unwavering line out into eternity.

Presently, she rested her chin on a balled fist as she exhaled. “..It’s not clear. Not like it used to be.”

Steven twiddled his thumbs. “Well.. If you’re not getting any answers, maybe it’s just that your questions need some work. What questions have you been asking?”

Garnet fell into a silence that lasted a long moment.

“There’s something big. Something.. huge. Something that’s missing. I thought it might have had something to do with Pink Diamond, but you found her shards, and.. nothing’s changed. Almost like it didn’t matter. If only I knew what it was, I feel like everything else will fall into place. Instead, I have only a general _feeling_ that I can’t quite put my finger on, but it’s there, looming, in the background.”

Steven felt like he already knew the answer to his question, but asked it anyway. “And it’s.. a _bad_ general feeling, right?”

“Of course it is,” she smiled softly.

“Garnet, were _you_ there when mom shattered Pink Diamond?” he asked.

“I.. wasn’t,” came the simple reply. “I’m sorry.”

Steven leaned against her. “It’s okay,” he said softly.

Garnet presently looked down at him, but he was now gazing out ahead into the distance. The sun was setting and the atmosphere was lit up in such brilliant purples and reds that it was hard to tell where the ocean ended and the sky began.

“It’s okay to feel like everything is out of your control. In my experience, it usually is.”

 

* * *

 

It had been hard to catch her alone. He tried to, over the coming days, but whether she’d planned it or not, her presence had always been accompanied by that of others, and she’d been adept at keeping everything she said light, breezy, and very non-confrontational.

 _Was_ it planned out that way, or merely happenstance? He couldn’t be sure.

Suddenly, he saw her. She’d wandered into the kitchen while he was up on his mezzanine floor playing videogames at the foot of his bed. And they were alone, in the same space - together. Their eyes connected suddenly and she spooked momentarily.

“Uh-” said Pearl with a touch of awkwardness. “Hello, Steven! I can’t chat long-”

“Wait, wait!” Steven hit pause and quickly discarded the controller before jumping from the mezzanine, landing softly on the floor nearby her. “Pearl, don’t-”

“I’m getting ready for training this afternoon, in space!”

“Oh, well, that’s cool. I just.. wanted to talk, though, about-”

She took a breath. “Steven.. I know what you’re going to say. And everything’s okay. I was just.. worried that the mission.. would be dangerous. Too dangerous for the amount of payoff.”

“Did you.. _know_ what that horrible planet was going to be like?” He looked absolutely confused. Surely not. But he was even more confused when she shook her head.

“Why? What was it like?” she asked innocently, frowning. “You three told me you were safe the whole time.”

His heart skipped a beat as he said, “We found her shards, Pearl. _Pink Diamond’s_ shards.”

Whatever he was expecting would happen, she merely raised an eyebrow at him. “But you lost a whole week.”

“Come on, Pearl. I.. I took the Wailing Stone. I ran off to who-knows-where without you. My actions put everyone at risk!” He frowned. “Why aren’t you.. at least madder? Shouldn’t you be madder about something like this?”

She was beginning to look tired, which was unusual for gems but not unheard of for Pearl. “Garnet and I are.. just glad you’re-”

He exhaled. “No, I’m not talking about Garnet. Me and Garnet are fine. I’m asking about you.”

Pearl softened. “ _I’m_ just glad you’re back.”

Frowning, grasping, Steven couldn’t let it go. Something that had been bucking away in the back of his mind occurred to him. “You.. told me once that you wanted to explain.. stuff. Stuff that was impossible for you to explain.”

She looked at him, a sudden look of misery in her eyes that told him all he needed to know. That there was something more at play, here - something much deeper than just petty betrayal or doubt of his maturity or character.

His heart sank. “And.. This is because of.. that.”

She nodded. Just once. But he also saw how her hand twitched.

His eyes were wide. “And it is _literally_ impossible?”

He saw how she looked away. Exhaling deeply after a long moment, he said, “Thanks, Pearl. I’m glad to be back, too.”

 

* * *

 

Millions of lightyears away, Yellow Diamond - commanding her occupational forces from her arm ship out in orbit of the rogue planet - frowned as a report of a missing peridot popped up on her screen. She studied it with narrowed eyes, fist balled under her chin in a thoughtful way, and eventually came to the soft conclusion that the technician would turn up eventually - there were very little places to hide on the barren yet mineral-rich planet below her.

And if not, it was no matter. There were still plenty of others just like her available to carry out the diamond’s orders.

She quietly added her own notes to the report and then swiped it away in order to move on to the next item. A canyon in what had been designated ‘Facet Ten’ on this planet had been declared mineral-rich and a prime location for a fresh new kindergarten. She allowed herself a brief smile, since it _was_ a special occasion, and then immediately went back to work setting up a schedule for that.

The orphaned planet continued to slowly speed its way through the endless gulf between stars.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A shorter chapter, since the original version grew too big and I had to cut it into two chapters again. I might post the next one sooner than usual if I can finish writing Chapter 16 anytime soon and get my buffer back where I want it! :)
> 
> This chapter is more about Steven and his relationships for once. I’m feeling a bit more comfortable about writing this far less certain version of Steven, and I thought his fallout from the last arc was important enough to deserve its own thing.. and I may be starting to feel self-conscious about the amount of Lars I write? But I can’t stop..
> 
> Not a lot happened in general but I guess it shows the situation at hand for everyone Earth-side, and it’s also all leading somewhere.. which is good in storytelling, as I’m given to understand. Also I’m finding Pearl hard to handle, but I guess it’s good she can’t talk about The Stuff because I want to keep the mystery going a bit longer yet.


	14. The Ramp Up.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Space is kind of like Facebook - pretty cool until your mother shows an interest. Suddenly not so cool anymore, is it!?

Skinny waited as Lars tapped on a control panel. “See?” she said, “The walk down here was easy and fine. I don’t see what’s so ‘lame’ about it.”

The doors slid open instantly.

“Like, the whole thing,” Lars explained as they stepped inside.

The Battle Room was the new name for the space that had been cleared for the purpose of Pearl and Garnet’s training sessions, somewhere deep in the bowels of the space station. In the long ago past it had been an emergency spillover containment area, for times when the human population had become too unwieldy for the main one. But population control had improved in the millenia since then and it had since been cleared of all the forestry it had previously held and ever since had languished as a storage room.

They entered to see crates tossed about everywhere. They had previously been pushed to one side out of the way, revealing a lovely big sparse area in which the training sessions could take place, but this cycle everything was disarray. Crates were arranged into obstacles - some of them smashed to bits. Spears, swords, pool noodles and gem destabilizers littered the floor.

Lars blinked in disbelief at the mess. “..What was everyone _doing_ that whole time we were away?!”

Skinny smiled proudly at the scene of devastation. “Everyone still wanted to train even though Pearl and Garnet couldn’t make it. Maybe things got a little out of hand.”

“We should get this cleaned up before Pearl sees it.” Lars surprised himself as he said those words. “..Never thought I’d hear myself say that.”

“See, I never thought I’d hear something like that, but likely for a different reason,” said Skinny as they set about clearing the space together. “It’s usually pearls that clean up like this. But she is treated like a high-ranking gem on Earth, isn’t she?”

Lars shrugged as he surprised himself by hauling something he would have eyeballed as being a bit too much for him, but it was almost effortless. “..Guess that’s just what free looks like.”

Skinny nodded. “Yeah, of course, that’s what I meant. But I suppose she and I are similarly thought so little of among other gems, what with my being flawed.. Not taken seriously.”

“Despite that, you’re the Captain,” smiled Lars. “That’s pretty good!”

When she spoke back up again, she sounded determined. “I’ve decided,” she said suddenly, “Next mission, I’m coming too.”

Lars raised an eyebrow as he rounded up some pool noodles. “Uh, aren’t you needed here on the station?”

She shrugged as she kicked a sword to the side, where a pile of other swords lay. “I’m.. bored. That’s why I’m down here cleaning up. Even if it’s just a supply run, even if I don’t get to stand planetside because I’m defective or whatever, I’ll be up for it. Bea can be in charge while I’m gone. She’d be a good second-in-command - She’s got a good gem on her hip.”

“I mean, I thought Carnelian would’ve been into it-”

Skinny smiled widely when she spoke of her friend. “Oh! No. Carnelian’s a pure, dyed-in-the-gem quartz _warrior_. Back in the day, she alone took on a squad of five Crystal Gems, poofed them all, and strode away with her stone sparkling as the day she emerged!”

Lars whistled. “Carnelian did that?! The little red one?”

Skinny smiled. “My point _being,_ she wants to come on a mission too. She’s just as bored as I am. This place.. if you spend long enough here, it becomes..” She couldn’t quite think of a way to describe it accurately enough. “It starts to feel like.. some kind of border between life and.. not-life.”

“..Purgatory?”

“Oh! Lars! You sneezed! ‘Bless you’!” She smiled. “Did I say it right? Did it help?”

“Uh. Thanks, Skinny.” Lars rolled his eyes as he brought the subject back. “Bea’s cool, but all I’ve ever seen her _do_ is be glued to her screen. Especially since Peridot got us shit-hot untrackable ultra-wifi.. or whatever weird combination of words she shoved together for it.” He paused. “I watched her, a few hours ago - Bea, she barely blinks anymore. And I _know_ that gems need to blink for whatever reason.”

Shrugging, Skinny replied, “You telling me _your_ visionspheres never get dry? But anyway, that’s all that being captain around here usually entails - at least, until the ‘shit’ hits the ‘fan’, as you’d say. But what are the odds that’ll happen in the next few cycles? Really?”

She laughed, and Lars did too - nervous, nervous laughter that spilled out of them for an entire long minute.

Once it died down, Lars changed the subject. “By the way, Captain, if you’re really going to swear, you gotta _lean_ into it. Like you mean it, y’know? It’s just.. weird, otherwise.”

“Noted,” nodded Skinny. “Thanks for the advice.”

“Oh shit here we go,” whined Lars, wincing as his hair lit up and a bunch of people fell out of it. Skinny grabbed him to prevent him from falling as Steven, Connie, and someone completely new to them landed awkwardly on the floor in front of them.

Skinny and Lars both gaped at the unexpected visitor as a concerned Connie helped her mother up from the floor. “Are you okay, mom? I warned you the landing was sometimes a little weird and rough..”

“I’m okay, sweetie,” said Priyanka after she caught her breath. Glancing around, she soon regarded the orange gem and the pink human with a little uncertainty. She looked back down at her daughter. “Where are we?”

“This is the Battle Room,” said Steven, jumping in. “It’s where all the training takes place!”

“And we’re.. also in space?” she asked.

“Yeah! We’re on a facility that’s super deep in gem-controlled space right now,” beamed Steven. “Cool, huh?”

Connie smiled and decided introductions were in order. “This is Captain Skinny Jasper - she’s in charge here. And this is Lars - the guy whose head we just jumped out of! Guys, meet my mom.”

“Uh, nice to meet you, Connie’s mom,” said Lars, a little shy.

“My stars - Hello, Connie’s mom,” said Skinny enthusiastically. “It’s always great to meet new Earth humans!”

“Dr Priyanka Maheswaran,” said Priyanka, eyeballing the gem in a vaguely standoffish manner. “Nice to meet you too.”

“My.. mom wanted to come and sit-in on the training session,” Connie explained. “She wants to see the place where I’ve been spending a lot of my time lately. I hope it’s okay.”

“Of course it is,” beamed Skinny. “Oh, we’ll have to organize a tour of the facility after training concludes. This is exciting. What a pleasant surprise - finally, a guest who might not have us all shattered if we screw up.”

Priyanka smiled awkwardly at this. “Of.. of course not,” she said before turning to regard Lars. “Lars, was it? I was told you were pink, but you’re actually.. very pink, aren’t you? Like the lion..” She squinted at him. “Even your irises..”

He rubbed the back of his neck awkwardly. “Well.. when you’re riddled with gem magic, you can’t really.. help it..”

“It was rather interesting to hear that your heartbeat is so slow. May I?” She indicated his wrist, and he cluelessly offered it. She checked his pulse against her watch in a very professional manner. “Hmmm,” she hummed thoughtfully after a long moment.

His nervousness didn’t increase his ridiculously slow heart rate any. “Uhh..”

But she was in doctor mode. “Is your condition accompanied by any pain, nausea or fatigue?”

“Uh, no. My body usually feels okay.”

“Any fever - hot or cold? Rashes? Strange lumps or bumps?”

“Uhh.. no.”

“Voices only you can hear? Strange impulses? Stomach pain?! What about the water-thing? How do you do that?”

“No?” Lars shook his head, shrugging, unsure how else to answer all the thousands of questions as Connie laughed and grabbed her mother by the hand in order to gently tug her away from him. “Mom! Lars is always fine, leave him alone.”

Steven smiled up at Lars, who was a little disturbed. “I think.. Connie’s mom wants to dissect me, dude.”

“Don’t be silly! She’d never do that. Now let me back in your head, I gotta bring the gems through.”

 

* * *

 

A short time later, it was quartz versus quartz in the Battle Room. Pearl nodded in approval as she made the rounds through the turbulent sea of purple with some orange and red tones mixed in - occasionally giving pointers or correcting technique.

“No wonder you gave us such trouble back during the war,” she laughed at one point. “If this is how well you fight after millenia of nothing.” She ducked expertly out of the way as one of the jaspers was thrown, arms flailing, in her direction by her sparring partner. Pearl turned her head to catch how the jasper landed, nodding in approval as she stuck the landing magnificently.

“We roughhouse,” shrugged a casual Wy, one of the recipients of Pearl’s praise, right before going back to flipping Zee’s shit.

In another part of the battle area, Carnelian gasped and threw herself forward, sliding on her front a few meters to catch the falling gem of her sparring buddy. “Whoops! Sorry, Dee,” she said to the dormant gemstone with an expression of regret on her face.

“You’re a MACHINE, Carnelian!” shouted Amethyst from nearby, who was also holding her own against a much bigger combatant.

“I know, thanks!” The little red gem smiled toothily as she stood up with her friend’s gemstone safe in her hand. “Hey Pearl, where’s Garnet today?”

“Garnet’s been a little.. preoccupied lately,” explained Pearl as she smiled. “But I’m certain I can handle this alone. Go and put your friend on the sidelines.” She struck a pose and made a fancy display of pulling a spear from her forehead. “You’re sparring with me, now!”

“Only if you don’t hold back!” grinned Carnelian as she hurried to do just that and returned, sword in hand, to leap straight at Pearl.

Connie, over in another part of the Battle Room, called for a break. Their Holo Pearl stopped engaging them and stood at attention, waiting, as the girl passed the sword to Steven to hold and ran over to the sideline.

“Just thirsty,” she called when Steven looked concerned.

Priyanka had been standing there, next to her backpack, and offered the girl her water bottle as she approached. Connie accepted it with a smile.

“What do you think, mom?” Connie asked before chugging the last of her water.

“Well, I already know you are very good with that sword,” Priyanka replied with a smile before glancing nervously around the rest of the room, with all the massive quartzes sparring against each other. “But you.. you don’t ever fight against any of these gems, do you?”

“Oh, not yet. When we do - don’t worry, it’ll be as Stevonnie.”

“Your fusion - right,” said Priyanka. Even though her daughter’s training had been an ongoing thing for roughly more than a year now, this new space situation was hard to wrap her head around, and her face definitely betrayed her worry for her daughter.

Suddenly, Lars landed hard on his side, sliding to a stop not far from where they were standing talking.

“Gak!”

Priyanka, Connie and the nearby Steven jumped and glanced over to see Lars’ Holo Pearl advancing on him, wielding only a pool noodle.

Steven was intensely confused. “Lars - _How!?_ ”

“That thing is strong, Steven,” he said hurriedly before blasting it backwards with a concussive shout, buying himself a little more time as he jumped back onto his feet, unhurt from the fall, spear in hand.

Connie laughed. “You’re ridiculous. But don’t give up. Remember your stance!”

Lars steeled himself and nodded. “Right, right!” he went back into the duel.

They watched as Lars landed a couple of thwacks on the hologram and Connie turned back to her mother. “He’s a beginner.”

“Hmm,” said Priyanka, narrowing her eyes as she watched the unnatural gemboy fight the robotic doppelgänger of the other unnatural gemboy’s alien guardian.

“What’s wrong, mom?”

Priyanka blinked, and turned back to her daughter. She tried to smile. “It’s nothing. Go on, get back in there sweetie. Fight the.. thing.”

Connie could tell when her own mother wasn’t being entirely straight-up with her, but she decided to put a pin in it and turned back to run over to Steven. They reactivated their own Holo Pearl and fought against it together little longer.

Eventually, the session was over, the Holo Pearls disappeared, and everyone gathered around the real Pearl.

“Great work today, everyone,” she was saying, having to raise her voice in order to be hear amid the hubbub of good spirits and camaraderie. “Only three of you poofed this session - that’s quite the record! Very impressive!”

A excited cheer went up, echoing off the walls. Connie, Steven and Lars joined in, but Priyanka stiffened and held her hands to her ears until the echoes stopped.

Pearl continued. “The next session will be much the same. Keep practicing when you can - and great work leaving this room in spotless condition when you’re done with it - I was very impressed when I first arrived today.”

She smiled widely at her primarily purple and orange army, some members of which suddenly seemed a little sheepish for some reason.

“Yo,” called Amethyst, “Who’s up for an afterparty in the quarters?!”

The idea landed well and a cheering stampede of quartzes headed for the door. Connie took a reluctant Priyanka’s hand and began to follow them.

“Are you coming?” she asked Steven.

“I think I wanna.. freshen up at the lake first,” Steven said with a laugh as he wiped sweat from his face. “We’ll meet you there.”

Connie smiled. “No worries! Can you refill my drinkbottle while you’re there, please?”

“Of course!”

 

* * *

 

Steven stood on a rock nearby Lars, who was on the water’s surface filling the drinkbottle under a waterfall. A handful of zoomans over on the shore watched them cautiously while Steven sat on his knees and plunged his head into the water for a moment, before coming back up and toweling off.

“Ahhh! That’s much better.”

“Any.. letters or whatever for me?” Lars asked with reluctance as he waited awkwardly for the bottle to fill.

“Just your parents,” smiled Steven. “I left it in your head for you.”

Lars immediately began covering up his feelings with words. “So, your girlfriend’s really good with that sword, man,” he said, still somewhat amped from the fairly intense training session. “It’s crazy!”

Steven looked up at him. “Who? Connie?”

Lars spread his hands wide as though disdainfully indicating something obvious. “ _Of course_ Connie. Why’s her mom here, though?”

“I guess she wants to make sure Connie’s actually safe here? I don’t think she told her what really happened, but I think Connie being away so long must’ve scared her,” shrugged Steven. “You know, you should think about inviting your parents through so that they can also-”

Lars’ face crinkled up, displaying an obvious weirdness about the suggestion, and he strove to change the subject before Steven had even finished talking.

“Anyway I’d hate to be the one to have to fight her,” he said loudly, screwing the top back on the now-full waterbottle. “And when you’re fused and _not_ on a gross mud planet, you guys are friggin unstoppable.”

Oh! Praise from Caesar is praise indeed. So unexpected, too. Steven considered himself sufficiently distracted. “Wow, thanks, Lars!” Steven was genuinely happy to hear it and blushed a little. “I really appreciate you saying that. We work hard when it comes to training. You’re doing great yourself! You totally landed a few on Hologram Pearl before it got you on the butt with the pool noodle. Can’t wait to spar with you.”

“Pff. Me versus either of you guys? No contest. I’d die instantly.” Lars said good-naturedly. “Or wait, what are the odds I’m secretly immortal now? Like.. Octo Prime Rex. Or.. any of these gems.” He laughed at how insane that sounded.

“Pretty good actually,” Steven said casually, wiping water from his face with his towel.

Lars’ smile froze on his face. “Huh?”

“Yeah. Lion’s something like two hundred years old as far as me and Connie have been able to piece together.” He shrugged. “Pretty sure it’s because he’s pink - I read that lions only live until they’re fourteen at most. Poor lions - If I were a lion, I’d be really, really old.. for a lion.”

His words had meanwhile hit Lars like a tonne of bricks. He had previously been joking, but this assault was real.

“..WHAT.”

The zoomans on the shore scattered. Steven blinked at Lars, also surprised by the sudden moodswing. “Oh.. uh, did I not..”

“WHY DIDN’T YOU tElL mE”

Steven frowned. “I thought you knew!” came his defensive reply.

Lars threw his arms in the air. “NO. I CLEARLY DON’T KNOW ANYTHING, STEVEN. I’m just bumbling my way through this whole ordeal and now I’m also IMMORTAL?”

The younger boy had disbelief written all over his face. “But, look at you! Since you came back, you don’t need to eat! You survived Homeworld! And that spaceship crash you told me about - and being attacked by that jasper who was actually _trying to poof you_! After all that, isn’t it reasonable to think that dying of old age won’t be a problem? But.. I guess you can probably still die if you take enough damage? Maybe? Even gems don’t live _forever_. But.” He swallowed. “But it.. it’s fine! Look - I’m probably immortal too.”

“PROBABLY? PROBABLY?” A massive realization struck him in the middle of this freak-out. “You’re _fifteen_ \- you should be puberty-ing all over the place right now but you haven’t aged a day since I first met you - some chubby little kid spewing half-eaten Cookie Cats all over the floor of the Big Donut!”

Steven blushed hard at Lars' rant. “Dad says I’m stocky! A-and, I have a facial hair!” He showed him his cheek. “See?”

Lars glared at it. “Just the one!?”

“Well.. where’s all YOUR facial hair, huh!?” The younger boy glared straight back up at him.

“I- uh, guh.. that’s genetics!” stammered Lars, turning a deep pink in the face as he realized the loud conversion was well and truly derailed. “My point is, _you_ haven’t aged in years, you little-!”

The smaller kid found himself tiring of this pointlessness. “Calm down!”

Lars took a breath, but the cogs were still spinning. “How powerful are you, anyways? You can make dead people and animals immortal? AND give them a full complement of awesome powers that you don’t even bother having yourself because you got some whole other _thing_ going on? Are you.. going to get even more powers later?”

Steven wasn’t used to being asked stuff like this and he quailed. “Lars, I don’t even know what to say. This is all just.. my entire life.”

Lars narrowed his eyes, much calmer now. He folded his arms and lowered his voice. “Was your mom even really just another quartz soldier?”

Steven floundered. “Yeah, I mean, she was obviously way more powerful than any other quartz I’ve ever met for some reason. She _must_ have been, but..”

A brief yet uneasy silence passed between them.

Steven frowned, touching a thoughtful finger to his chin. “So many things don’t add up about it, you know? Uh. What did _you_ make of the trial?”

Lars raised an eyebrow. “Dude, the _trial?_ I dunno, I was too busy losing my mind the whole time. The Eye-Ruby seemed really convinced she - you, whatever - did it. And so did, like, almost everyone else.”

Steven nodded, brow furrowed in thought. “Yeah. That ruby was Eyeball. She told me she saw the whole thing. But.. the other stuff. The sword shouldn’t have been able to shatter any gemstone-”

Lars shrugged and glared furiously upward at the ‘sky’ briefly. “Dude, you _know_ so many other people who would be way better to ask about this than me.”

Steven shook his head. “I really don’t.”

“What about Pearl?”

Steven’s eyes were downcast. “She’s.. kind of in the ‘too hard’ box for now? And Garnet wasn’t even there for the shattering, so she-” He perked up. “But you at least were there for the trial! I thought maybe you’d have some interesting hot take. Maybe.. she was framed. Or, did Bismuth lie about the sword? Oh.. I wish I could speak with the blue zircon again..”

Lars seemed almost apologetic as he replied. “Steven, gems can do all sorts of crazy stuff. Maybe you should ask the quartzes, some of them could have been there. I have no idea how it could have happened - I’m just some stupid guy. Who’s.. probably immortal.”

Steven felt for him, despite his own thing.

“At least we’re.. in this together?” Classic Steven, trying to remain positive. These days, Lars could appreciate this more than ever but all this was just too much.

“Heh.” Lars exhaled, massaging the bridge of his nose. “I. Look, Steven, excuse me a second. This has all been - I-I gotta go do something real quick.”

He turned away to summon a portal, and took quite a few steps back on the water’s surface as if to take a running leap. Steven freaked.

“Where are you - wait! You’re really going to leave me here on this rock in the middle of the lake!? How long will you be?”

Lars paused to consider something before shrugging. “Eh, come with me then.”

 

* * *

 

One much-longer-than-usual portal jump later, Steven was stunned to find himself tumbling out onto the surface of what appeared to be a different planet. It was barren, flat and rocky as far as the eye could see, which was admittedly not very far due to the moon they were standing on obviously being very small - its horizon dropping off a lot closer to them than it ever could on Earth. He gasped in awe at the open void of space ‘above’ them, dotted with vivid, twinkling stars, the gas giant and all its rings hanging large above them in the sky, and the gigantic pink space station clearly visible hanging upside-down in front of it - not far away at all.

Relatively speaking.

As Steven took all this in, he had ample opportunity to notice that he wasn’t quite able to catch his breath. The cold atmosphere was much too thin for him to deal with.

A protective bubble sprung up around both him and Lars in an instant. Able to catch his breath now, he did so wholeheartedly and took a step backwards, bumping into Lars who grabbed him by the shoulder. He suddenly realized that Lars had been watching all this with wide, worried eyes.

“Are you.. okay?” Lars asked with hesitation. “Why the bubble?”

Steven had an indescribably anxious look on his face as he gazed up at his friend. ”It-it’s okay,” he said. “Who doesn’t love a good old fashioned.. heart-to-heart.. in a bubble.” He shook his head, trying to understand. “You - _you_ can breathe out there. Comfortably.”

“Well, yeah. Why can’t you?” Lars asked in mild but growing alarm.

Steven stared and stammered. “The air is.. thin, I guess? I mean.. I’m.. a gem, sure, but my body is..” he couldn’t say it ( _what would it do to him_ ), but Lars knew what it was.

_Human._

That’s when the other shoe dropped for Lars. Everything felt flat and immense all at once. His new normal had ever so gradually become unrecognizable, and here he was, staring at the stark proof of that.

Presently he lowered his voice which was heavy with guilt. “Shit,” he said quietly. “Steven. I’m.. sorry. I never shoulda brought you here. I’m.. _terrible._ ”

“It’s okay - I’m tough!” Steven struggled for words - not for lack of oxygen anymore, but more from the tidal wave of emotion washing over him. Not for the first time, he wondered what exactly he’d done to the donut shop guy. “Why _did_ you come here?”

“I come here to vent,” Lars said simply, sitting hard on his butt on the base of the bubble. “Not often, maybe four or five times now, when this moon is close enough. I can’t break anyone’s boulders-” he winced, “-I mean, wreck anything or anyone out here. Y’know. With my voice.”

“Does it help?” Steven asked.

Lars, hugging his knees into his torso, shrugged. “Sort of?”

The smaller victim of gem interference in human affairs placed a hand on the taller one’s shoulder. Lars took a deep breath which, despite his condition, he could still find more satisfying even in the bubble’s micro atmosphere than he ever could out on the moon’s surface.

“I shoulda figured,” he admitted quietly, “About the immortality thing. But I’m.. I’m too busy trying to convince myself I can go wander back into my old life someday when all this is over. Like it’s no big deal.”

Steven blinked. “It’s.. definitely a lot to take in all at once, isn’t it? Gem stuff has been my whole life.. but you seem so _amazing_ at all this stuff. You had a crazy space adventure, you figured out your powers, you made friends with the _famethyst_ \- and all without any help from me while Lion was missing and I was stuck on Earth.”

Lars shrugged, “It’s not like I had any easier options,” he mumbled self-deprecatingly.

“I forgot you’re actually really struggling, and that you’re so new to this. But I want you to know, I’m right here with you.”

Lars shook his head briefly. “No, dude, stop. When I used to give you shit about your magic bellybutton.. Back then, I had no idea. It sucks your mom had to do all that stuff. That it had to be _your_ mom to do it.” In the middle of this, he found himself smiling a little. “Heh, y’know, I used to think I had it bad, when my mom used to drink all the time.”

Steven was taken aback by all this, just watching Lars as he continued to speak.

He frowned again. “It’s total crap that you were born into all this heavy stuff. It’s like, the _diamonds_ want you dead, and some-fucking-how, despite _that,_ you can still find the time and energy to run around town, helping people. How the heck do you even manage to care about stupid stuff like..” he waved a hand around, “How I’m liking the wrestling, or.. encouraging me to go to parties..” He blinked. “My existential crisis, just now..”

“Lars..”

“I dunno how you do any of it.” Lars looked earnestly up at the kid who was still standing right next to him. “You’re pretty great, Steven. You’re just one of those guys that deserved better than what you got, I guess.”

“Lars, when I’m all by myself, I just feel.. alone. But the most important thing I’ve got is people who care a lot about me,” said Steven quietly. “And you have that, too.”

“..Yeah,” Lars admitted.

Steven sat down quietly beside him and they gazed long upward in silence, watching the upside-down space station transition slowly across the face of the gas giant, the whole scene tinted in a rosy hue by the bubble separating them from it all.

“Hey, what’s that?” asked Steven, pointing as he spotted a little glittering speck approaching the station in the distance.

"Returning supply ship, maybe," Lars shrugged quietly and joined him in watching as the speck entered the docking bay.

 

* * *

 

Ever since the rogue planet had been ejected from its parent star system due to some horrendous cataclysm it was woefully unprepared to even attempt to understand, its central organism had slowly been dying - languishing without the amount of light required for it to stay vital, its numerous burrowing tendrils shriveling up one-by-one for the lack thereof. The ambient starlight from the far reaches of space was less than enough to prolong the inevitable.

But the arrival of these new life forms - these powerful, energy-ridden gems, garnered the hivemind’s deep interest - what a _serendipitous_ encounter!

It clutched its newly-acquired gemstone close into the center of itself. If just one of them could provide this much power.. The organism quivered in anticipation at the possibilities as its component parts that weren't quite beyond repair became vital again, burrowing back down to lie in wait.

It could feel the invaders in the initial stages of bunkering down upon its surface, and there seemed to be more arriving all the time. The damage they were doing was only minimal at this stage but the hivemind had an inkling that the invasion would soon grow. It relished in this knowledge; the more gems that arrived, the more energy it could harvest. However, the catch; the longer the invasion went on, the more damage the planet incurred.

Time both was and wasn’t on its side.

It needed to take action, at just the right moment, and all at once in a single magnificent strike.

Until then, it would lie in wait.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The original version of this chapter was just.. the second half of the last chapter. It had no Priyanka, and I’d originally really half-assed writing the training session because I find fight scenes hard to write; until I realized you guys deserved better, I was going to have it exist in exposition only. Splitting it off into its own thing turned out for the best and I really like this chapter now. :3
> 
> And now we know a little more about the planetary hivemind. ;_; It’s less of a person and more of a timebomb.


	15. The Promise.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Even in the desolate void of endless space, you can still have unwanted guests.

Peridot was having a blast. Literally. She was down in the Zoo’s workshop - a part of the space station set aside to host to all manner of modern technology, a plethora of high-tech tools and equipment. She was setting metal afire with her favorite tool. She used to have one just like it back when she was performing her old Diamond’s work - a newer, fancier one even - but this one was fine and did exactly what it said on the can, so she was in her element.

However, she found her work interrupted suddenly as the doors slid open. There stood Carnelian.

“Peridot! You’re _here!?_ You weren’t at Battle Club!” The red gem suddenly laughed, luxuriating in cracking her knuckles. “You should have been there!”

“Oh yeah? Was it more fun than normal?” asked Peridot halfheartedly, not overly wanting to be rude, but nonetheless also wanting to get back to her work.

“Gem, _please_. I accidentally poofed 8XD! It was so funny. And then I fought Pearl and it turns out she’s _really_ the same renegade pearl from back in the rebellion! She was amazing! Pearls are not meant to fight like that, or at all! But here we are, alive and glimmering in the starlight of a universe where _anything_ is possible.”

“Carnelian, we all know Pearl is ‘good’, but it is with much regret that I evidently don’t look busy enough for you right now. If I could shapeshift, I’d gladly make myself a couple of extra pairs of hands to really drive the point home.” But, despite her obvious irritation, Peridot was confused. Up until now, she’d just been left to her own devices while she was down here in the workshop. “What’s going on?”

Carnelian held out her hands. “Okay, okay, I get carried away when I brag. Listen, P, this is important. Steven and Lars - have you seen them?”

“Nope, haven’t seen either of them.”

“Boulders,” she cussed to herself. “Well, nevermind. Listen - You just need to stay put. Don’t leave the workshop under any circumstances.”

Peridot was even more confused. “..And why would I ever want to do that?”

“Perfect.” Carnelian smiled, but even Peridot could distinguish the fear sitting just behind her smile.

Peridot stood slowly, gazing with concern over at the quartz. “Is something.. wrong? Can I.. help in any way?”

Carnelian shook her head and held her hands out in a reassuring way. “Just stay here. We’ve got.. _guests_. Important guests.”

“Oh!” Peridot nodded. “Say no more. I remember my orders regarding Holly Blue and all diamond loyalists who might visit this station while it’s in this state of ‘secret mutiny’. I will simply remain here and not attempt to engage them in any way,” she smiled.

Carnelian was relieved at how easy that was. “Great. Someone will let you know when everything’s shining again.”

“Okay!” said Peridot, flashing the thumbs up at her as the red gem left again, the door sliding shut behind her. Peridot immediately turned back to her work, muttering to herself, “Come down here, tell me to keep doin’ the thing I was gonna do anyway, gaaargh..”

 

* * *

 

Amethyst wanted to help, so she shapeshifted and soon stood tall and perfectly formed. She’d really tried this time, and managed a proper blue insignia uniform for once. She smiled down at herself.

“Heeey, I finally got it! Check it out, guys - blue!”

Priyanka gawked at the display from the edge of the room, where she was standing with Pearl and Connie. She was finding the fly-on-the-wall nature of her visit a little overwhelming, especially with this potentially dangerous situation that was afoot.

“Don’t worry, mom-” Connie was attempting to sooth her mother’s frayed nerved, but was cut off by a nearby gem.

“Great job, nice blue!” said Zee, who was standing nearby. She wiped away a tear as she felt an odd kind of older sibling pride. “You really look like one of us.”

“Right, everyone!” shouted Captain Skinny Jasper in as commanding a voice as she could muster. “We can do this. All we need to do is keep them away from the Battle Room, the Cargo Bay, and this Bridge.”

“What about the Quarters?” asked Zee, standing at the front of a group of primarily amethysts with a couple of jaspers mixed in, all clearly looking worried. Amethyst moved to join in with the crowd.

Skinny narrowed her visionspheres and pursed her lips thoughtfully. “That too, I guess. But I don’t see why they’d want to go into our room.”

Zee twiddled her touchstumps nervously. “How should we _speak_ to them?”

Skinny’s recommendations came thick and fast. “As rarely as possible, only if you must, and here are some extra rules that are so important, I numbered them: One, don’t tell them I’m in charge. Two, don’t mention anything about the mutiny. And three, do NOT talk about our many, many other _CRIMES._ My stars, Zee, from what muck did you emerge? This won’t be like entertaining Blue Diamond, who just comes here to mope around Pink’s Chamber and make us all feel miserable! They’re gunna wanna _see_ and _do_ things, and then with their incessant _chitchat-_ ” She was exasperated. But to her credit, she took a deep slow breath as soon as she realized.

Zee nodded in quick agreement. It indeed should have been obvious. “Of course. C’mon team, let’s go!”

“Hup hup hup!” shouted Amethyst as the squad began to move out towards the staircase, but Skinny, calm again, stopped them. “Wait, wait-”

“What about us?” asked Connie, who was standing nearby with Pearl and her mother.

“We should probably get you guys home,” said Skinny before shooting a glance at Carnelian as her face appeared at just the right moment in a splitscreen on the viewport. “Carnelian! Where’s our inter-dimensional space portal?”

“Our new guests are.. moments away from landing,” cautioned Bea, eternally present at her console.

“No one’s seen Lars or Steven since training finished, Sk- Captain,” Carnelian said, rather breathlessly, brow furrowed. “It’s almost like.. they’re not even aboard this facility. Which just isn’t possible, right!? Are all our ships still docked?”

“Steven would never steal a ship..” said Connie, frowning. “He even refuses to watch pirated movies.”

Pearl decided not to bring up how the boy had stolen the Wailing Stone recently. “Would Lars?”

“Lars _has_ stolen a ship before,” Connie had to concede. “But that was back when gems would have killed him and his friends if they’d-”

Connie’s eyes widened as she noticed her mother’s concerned look and furrowed brow. “I-I mean-” she started, but she was thankfully interrupted.

“Nothing’s been in or out of the bay, apart from the beryls,” confirmed Bea, having checked the status of the docking bay from her console.

Skinny had never frowned so hard in all her millenia of existence. “Okay, that’s.. troubling. You’ve checked the containment area?”

Carnelian nodded, visionspheres wide. “Yeah! Jay and her team are still down there looking right now. Oh and Peridot’s here too, in the workshop. I told her to stay put.”

Skinny wanted to groan extremely loudly, but held it back. She had her crew’s confidence in her own two hands right at the second. “Add the Workshop to the list of places to keep them away from. Zee - You _need_ to stall them until we find and ground Lars.”

“How-”

Skinny pulled a method of doing that straight out of her gem. “Suggest that Holly offers them a tour first. Holly loves talking, and giving a tour will allow her to do just that.”

Zee nodded, smiling nervously. “This is why you’re the boss.”

Lars and Steven chose that moment to drop out of a portal onto the bridge in front of them.

“Steven!” said Pearl, relieved.

“There you guys are!” yelled Connie as she ran over to happily hug Steven. “We were so worried!”

Steven accepted the hug and reciprocated, but confusion was written all over his features. “No one was in the quarters - what’s going on?”

Lars, a little distracted by how tense the general feeling in the room was, passed Connie the water bottle from his forehead and looked questioningly at Skinny.

Skinny turned to the amethysts and Carnelian. “Great, one problem solved. Go to your places. Get everyone that isn’t a human out of the containment area. Keep me updated on everything. If things go wrong, call in and tell us where we’re needed - we’ll portal in and help. And remember everything I said!”

“We.. _can_ do this, right?” asked Carnelian, looking stressed.

As she looked at the faces staring back at her, Skinny took a deep breath. “We can!” Her eyes shone.

Zee, her team, and Carnelian’s image up on the screen all removed themselves from the bridge. The two newcomers watched them go in confusion.

“Now. You two! Where have you been!?” Skinny was intense with worry.

“We were just outside-” Steven said without thinking, as Lars cleared his throat loudly and meaningfully.

Priyanka’s eyes widened. “Wha-”

“OutSIDE!?” gasped Pearl. “Do you mean, out THERE!?” she asked, swinging an arm toward the viewport which was currently displaying the gas giant the facility was orbiting quite clearly, hanging in front of the void of space. Steven opened his mouth as if to say something, or backtrack, but Lars was eyeballing him with strong intent.

Luckily, the other matter at hand was rather pressing and Skinny soon changed the subject. Her face was all twisted up. “That’s troubling too, but we’ll circle back to that in light of the _emergency_ taking place right now.”

“What’s going on, Captain?” asked Lars, suddenly all business. Skinny was usually far more laid back than this.

“We’ve got visitors,” came the response. “Pearl, the kids and Dr Priyanka Maheswaran - did I say that right? - all need to go back to Earth right now.”

“Visitors?” asked Steven.

Skinny rolled her eyes. There was distaste in her voice. “Yeah, some imperial _upper crusts_ decided to visit. A small group of beryls, out of nowhere. It happens sometimes, but these elites gossip amongst themselves and we can’t afford any..” she trailed off, unsure of how to finish her sentence.

“Complications?” Steven asked.

“Ugh,” said Lars. “How can we get them to leave fast?”

“Well, depends on why they came here.” Skinny nodded. “Turns out, this sort of thing can really jam-up a secret mutiny and illegal alliance. So the best course of action here is to pretend everything’s normal until they go away.” She frowned. “Like always.”

“It’s been pretty tense here ever since they first made themselves known,” said Connie, who had an uneasiness about her stance. “I thought it might have been another prank.. at first.”

Lars had a distasteful look on his face. “So what, you’ve got Holly out there again, frontman-style?”

“Yes. Holly Blue Agate is out there right now, greeting them, under the careful watch of the amethysts,” confirmed Skinny.

“I have no idea why you trust her to do this,” came a hot comment from Pearl. “I know you have some.. arrangement with her, but there’s no way she won’t sell you out the first chance she gets, right?”

“Who is this Holly Blue Agate?” asked Priyanka, hands on her hips. “Why haven’t I met her?”

“Holly used to be in charge here,” said Lars, a bit too annoyed to continue feeling cagey about Priyanka. “You haven’t met her because she’s _not on our side,_ ” he narrowed his eyes pointedly at Skinny as he finished his sentence.

Skinny held her hands out. “Lars, Pearl - I get that, I absolutely do, but they expect to see an agate still in charge here. Everyone does!” Skinny gave a smile with a touch of unease. “As Peridot once told me - in ‘show business’ it’s best to give the audience what they want.”

“Solid advice. Too bad she doesn’t take it on board herself,” came some quality salt from Pearl.

Skinny shot a glance at Lars. “Anyway, we couldn’t find you, so we told Holly that ‘the pink human’ died already,” Skinny frowned. “If that’s even the reason they’re here, maybe it will encourage them to leave faster. Who knows. So I need you to just stay here with me. Don’t go anywhere until they go back to wherever they came from.”

Lars nodded, able to see the sense in this one of Skinny’s suggestions. “Sure thing, Captain.” Arms akimbo, he turned to look at the four Earthlings. “Right you guys, get the hell in my head.” Then, at Pearl and Priyanka, quailing a little, “..Respectfully, of course, ma’ams.”

Priyanka, grabbing her daughter’s shoulder, seemed ready to go. Steven, Connie and Pearl however all gave him disobedient looks, and his own quickly became one of incredulity.

“I’ve worked _retail,_ and you Crystal Gems are still the most difficult people I’ve ever met,” he complained.

“What!?” came a cry from Priyanka. “Connie-”

“But we can help,” Connie replied, “If things go bad.”

“Okay, but things _aren’t_ going to go bad,” said Skinny, smiling in what she hoped was a reassuring way to a small crowd of concerned people, one of whom was a very disapproving parental figure who had picked the worst possible day for such an excursion.

 

* * *

 

Holly Blue met the visitors in the Docking Bay under the careful watch of the perfectly-formed amethysts flanking her. Introductions were made and presently a light pink Morganite, a green Emerald, and a yellow Heliodor strolled slowly through the doors, followed by a lone pink-ish Pearl. The group was escorted by Holly who walked alongside the beryls. Quartzes, standing to attention, silently lined the hallway walls to the left and right of them in a display of discipline as they went.

“You run a tight ship,” said Emerald, strolling along with her hands behind her back in an imperial way, idly studying the lines of quartzes saluting them with her single visionsphere. “Not one gem out of line, not a hair out of place-” she stopped short as she noticed a chipped tooth somewhere within the ranks. She glared pointedly at the owner.

The reddish amethyst in question noticed the look, took the hint and quickly pressed her lips shut. Emerald smiled, immediately continuing on.

“Despite a couple of niggling visionspheresores, I’m quite impressed.”

“Indeed,” said Holly, eying those same quartzes with displeasure. She knew they were only there to watch her, and to put the whole thing down swiftly if she were to try anything. She put it from her mind, however, and focused instead on what she could control - schmoozing these beryls, making them happy, and getting them to leave like the defective traitor Jasper had ordered her to.

“I too sometimes find it very impressive that these amethysts can even rub two coherent thoughts together some days. It isn’t easy running this place, but I put my whole gemstone into everything I do. I am Blue Diamond’s trusted Agate after all,” she said, the last part in a singsong tone.

“When I first heard about this place, I laughed to myself,” said Morganite. “I thought; Blue Diamond is allowing a bunch of quartzes to run their own space station? It was preposterous.”

“In all fairness,” smiled Holly, “ _I_ run this place. These quartzes merely follow orders.”

At least, she wished that it were true.

“Then it really is a testament to your sheer force of will, keeping these brutes in line,” said Morganite.

Holly smiled widely, pleased, even though Morganite’s words also did not reflect the truth of the situation. “Why, I humbly thank you for saying. Now! You’ve obviously traveled far. To what do I owe this pleasure?”

The three beryls exchanged glances. Then Morganite smiled, “This place has always interested me, Agate. It’s only now that I’ve been able to wrest myself away from the situation in the distant Rho System to finally come pay this place a visit. After telling my plans to my good friends Emerald and Heliodor here, they wanted to come too. We want to know everything there is about this.. Human Zoo.”

Holly Blue Agate understood. It was a typical Girl’s Night Out, gem-style, and she was more than happy to play the host.

 

* * *

 

Pearl remembered something. “Now, Steven. What was all that ‘outside’ business earlier? I misheard you, right? Please tell me I misheard you!”

Steven and Lars, both with arms folded, exchanged glances as they separately tried to think of something. But Steven, unable to help himself, was the one to come clean first.

“Fine! Lars just took me to a moon-”

Lars groaned loudly. “Aw - C’mon, man. You’re getting me in trouble!”

Pearl, Connie and Skinny gasped.

Priyanka shrieked. “WHAT.”

“But it’s not as bad as it sounds!” Steven quickly added.

“To be fair,” said Lars, “Nobody told me _not_ to go down to the moons.”

“Does the term ‘self-explanatory’ mean nothing to you?” asked Connie, pissed.

“Don’t you know these moons have no atmospheres!?” came Skinny’s main question.

“Don’t you know humans can not endure the cold void of space!?” came Pearl’s major concern.

“Are you INSANE?” was Priyanka’s whole thing.

Lars quailed and blushed hard at this line of questioning, which was made all the worse by the fact that it was coming from a bunch of glaring women, but Steven stood beside him and came to his aid.

“Well,” said Steven, “One sort of has an atmosphere which Lars can breathe even though I can’t. Isn’t that crazy!?”

Huge gasps came all around as his revelation landed wrong, and Steven waved his arms around frantically. “It’s okay! I made a bubble - I was safe!”

Connie pulled a face, “The heck, Lars!?”

Lars got very defensive, extremely fast. “I didn’t know it wasn’t safe! I went on Space Internet to learn more about this gas giant we’re orbiting and it told me which of these moons has an atmosphere - and I was bored. I can’t help it if one of them happens to be close enough sometimes for me to make a portal! What else am I gunna do? What teenager with portal powers is gonna _not_ try?”

“He’s.. trying to make this all seem okay,” said Connie, confused and looking up at her mom and the two gems, “But it’s not, right?”

“Of course it’s not, honey,” said Priyanka, highly alarmed. “You should never go down to strange moons with older boys..” she blinked. “Or _anyone_ for that matter!”

“Listen to me,” said Bea, who was nearby. “We are in a very unstable planetary system. There are moons _everywhere_ , and they are always in flux with one another. We have to make adjustments to our orbit very so often in order to maintain a clear orbit! What if that happened while you’re out there? You could very well be stranded if your portal can’t reach far enough.”

“I go there to scream, okay!?” said Lars suddenly.

“Huh?” came a small chorus.

He was frowning as it all spilled out. “Captain, I’m.. going nuts! We’re jammed up, we can’t do anything because of that flimsy-ass cover we have.. We keep having super awkward visits from superpowered crazy space witches who could have everyone here _shattered_ if anyone utters a word to them about what’s really going on.. Meanwhile, my crew are all, just, _out there,_ somewhere, but we can’t get a sure fix on any of them.”

Skinny frowned. “The stress of our situation is getting to all of us. Why are you bottling this up?! I’ve seen you hanging out in the Quarters while the rest of us are talking about this stuff we’re all going through - you should speak up too! I know you have your own crew out there somewhere, and a family back on Earth.. but you’re a part of this one too!”

Lars was confused. “Uh. Do you mean family? Or crew?”

Skinny raised an eyebrow, surprised. “Either. Both! What’s the difference!? It’s all the same, isn’t it?”

Lars went deep pink in the face and rubbed the back of his neck. “I-I’m.. still getting used to this ‘say your feelings’ thing.”

She softened. “The empire is immense and information scarce, Lars, you know that.”

“I know. _I know._ And I know that, by this point, I’ve known all of you much longer than any of them. But me and those ladies, back when we were running from Homeworld.. we bonded hard. Like.. _Really_ hard.” He swallowed hard and raised a hand to indicate the void of space just on the other side of the viewport. “..Out there.”

He was intimately aware of everyone watching as he sunk at the shoulders. He felt a bit of unwanted grief wash over him about it. “M-maybe.. should I try to just.. let it go?”

A brief silence followed.

“What? No!” said Connie. Despite being mad at him for his lapse in judgment, she was still able to sympathize. “You can’t give up on them! Steven told me about how awesome they are! How they stayed with you on Homeworld to help you.”

“Lars,” began Pearl. “Like we said at the Summit - you are still free to return home at any time, of course, and no one will blame you. You offered to be our portal here of your own free will, but you’re still just a human after all. But I don’t think you should give up. These are still very early days. The original rebellion lasted a thousand years-”

Lars’ eyes were wide. “Cool, Pearl, ma’am, I know you’re trying to help but this kind of talk right now is just-”

“I have every intention of helping your crew, Lars,” said Skinny. “We all do. But you’re right. In the wider sense, we’re jammed up and walking on very delicate brittle crystal with this flimsy charade of ours for now.”

Pearl nodded. “We need to be careful. We’re still trying to figure out this empire, and what we can do within it to keep the Earth safe.”

“I know no one likes that Holly Blue is still active, but it’s the only way forward, especially in situations like this. Skinny spread her arms wide. “Tell me I’m wrong. Tell me what would you have me do different.”

Lars, for one, had no answers.

“I think everything is going swimmingly.. provided the beryls leave soon,” said Pearl, with her arms folded and looking at the Captain. “We shouldn’t make the mistake of confusing stability for boredom. Believe me,” she frowned here, “When everything goes wrong - and it will, _of course_ it will in one way or another - we’ll all look back on these days fondly. There’ll be nothing we wouldn’t give to come back here, to this idyllic moment in time. Back when.. when everyone was still together. When things still held.. promise. But we won’t be able to.”

She meant well, but quickly gained an awareness of how it all sounded as she saw her cohorts blank faces staring back at her. Priyanka in particular looked aghast.

“If,” Pearl half-heartedly corrected herself. “ _If_ everything goes wrong..”

“If?” asked Skinny.

“Yeah, if!” said Connie with confidence.

Steven and Lars exchanged glances. As Steven opened his mouth to to say something, A splitscreen popped up on the viewport, and Carnelian’s face filled the view.

“Yo yo yo what’s the skinny, Skinny!” She hyped for a moment before becoming very serious. “Our esteemed guests just entered the Observation Room. They didn’t try to go anywhere else. Don’t worry - they’re still being watched and Holly is behaving.” A brief pause. “Sorry about the Earth slang. It’s fun to say.”

Visible sighs from all around.

“Well, that’s great news. What we have here is just a normal run-of-the-station visit from some bored imperial officers,” said Skinny with slight relief on her face. “However, we can’t completely relax until they’re gone.”

 

* * *

 

The Observation Room was a large, sparse, dimly-lit room with a large, smooth orb hovering the middle of it. Holly stood at attention, and after a moment, pointedly looked over at Morganite’s Pearl. Then, _pointedly,_ at the orb. Then back at Pearl.

Morganite’s Pearl only appeared confused, but Morganite understood.

“ _Pearl_ is.. _new,_ ” Morganite said with a hint of seething as Pearl clasped her hands in front of her and looked demurely down at the floor tiles. “She was recently given to me but I had no idea she was going to be this _incompetent._ I should have brought my other one.”

Holly’s solution was just to clear her throat in the direction of the three amethysts, who were standing to attention by the door - ostensibly for security, but in reality to keep an eye on the agate. Amethyst raised an eyebrow slightly in confusion but luckily Wy began to move to perform the task. However, Zee stopped her in a subtle movement, gazing directly into Holly’s visionspheres. A challenge.

Holly Blue Agate, almost imperceptibly, winced.

“If you _please_ , Amethysts,” Holly said, her voice dripping, “Turn it on.”

“Yes Holly,” said Wy, and Zee was happy for her to walk over to the orb. The observation globe was activated in short order and, around them, the scene sprang to life; a wooded area, devoid of humans. Wy interacted with the globe and the scene panned around until they were able to observe an area where a bunch of the zoomans were eating fruit while lounging around and talking together. A couple of others were sitting off to the side, one braiding the other’s hair. Of course, the human’s noises were not typically deemed worth the effort of transmitting, so there was no sound. This allowed the gems observing to talk freely amongst themselves as they watched.

The Morganite’s Pearl couldn’t help but find herself enchanted by the simple animals. Although she remained standing very still not far away from her superiors, she watched the holographic scene going on around her closely, only half listening to the conversation.

“Ugh, what strange things,” Emerald was saying as she looked vaguely disgusted. “They almost look like us, but.. horrible, less brilliant. And what are they doing - shoving those _things_ into their mouths?” her forehead wrinkled as she stared, aghast. “Destroying those wet orbs with their horrible mouths?”

Heliodor, the third beryl, was inclined to agree but was interrupted before she could say anything.

“How interesting,” said Morganite with her arms folded. “As you can see, none of us are particularly familiar with organic aliens. Are they all so dull?”

Holly was all “Yes. Oh, but we had a rare pink human in our collection for a brief moment, but I've recently been told that it died.”

Amethyst, watching idly from over by the exit, noticed a subtle change in the pearl’s expression which went unnoticed by the agate and beryls.

Holly had not stopped talking. “Yes, it was very unfortunate as this human was quite a thing to behold - It almost looked just like a gem but for the lack of a gemstone and all the.. fluid, leaking from it. Couldn’t even stand, from what I saw.”

Emerald rolled her visionsphere. “Pfft, organics. I hear they are _constantly_ dying. What’s the point of them. How did it die?”

“Well, if I remember correctly, it arrived here in a bad state for a start. Injured. You know, these things don’t have gems that they can retreat into. It’s just some kind of.. organic process that allows them to heal. Or.. something.”

The beryls cringed visibly at how gross it all sounded. So did the pearl.

“Why was it injured?” asked Morganite, curious.

Holly smiled. “Hah! I didn’t bother to ask _why._ You - amethysts. You seem to understand what they say sometimes. Do you know why?”

Amethyst frowned as Wy and Zee exchanged glances. “Uh. H- _It_ was attacked by a jasper out in space somewhere,” came Zee’s response.

Holly rolled her eyes and again focused her attention on the beryls. “You know how organics are, so fragile and weak, all the time. How did it even find itself in space? Who would know.”

Emerald nodded knowingly. “Of course, of course.”

“And these _Earth_ quartzes are the least competent gems I have ever had the misfortune of managing, so there's really nothing more to say.”

Wy and Zee subtly rolled their eyes out of annoyance but kept themselves in check as Amethyst had a slightly harder time swallowing down a sudden fury. They noticed the pearl delicately using the side of her index-touchstump to wipe lightly at her visionsphere, but the reason why was lost upon them.

Meanwhile, Morganite laughed flippantly. “Oh Holly. These quartzes are nothing. Emerald - Do you know the most useless gem I’ve ever seen or heard of?”

Emerald was curious. “What was it?”

Morganite could not keep the smirk out of her face as she spoke. “I saw it recently when I visited Homeworld, embedded in a mirror - the most useless sapphire I’ve ever seen.” she laughed. “It was a rare orange, too, if you can believe that.”

A useless orange sapphire. The amethysts perked up with interest that they tried very hard to downplay. But it was such a bizzare concept, they noticed that even the pearl had glanced over.

“A _useless_ sapphire?” breathed Holly. “How did she escape her well-deserved shattering?”

“Who knows,” laughed Morganite. “Blue Diamond’s wishes, perhaps.”

“Yes,” mumbled Holly. “I certainly know of Blue Diamond’s.. mercy, what with all these amethysts here.”

Wy and Zee stiffened, but had no choice but to allow it to continue since Holly’s incendiary chitchat reinforced their own cover all too well.

Morganite smiled smugly. “Well, if you are ever near the Eternity Archive on Homeworld, go have a look for yourself, Holly Blue Agate. Ask for it - the archivists will be all to pleased to show you; it’s such an amusing little artifact. When you try asking the mirror a question - you’ll find it won’t be able to answer. And if it does, it’ll be late. Much too late to be _useful._ ”

They all laughed pompously at the very idea of such a useless mirror, and presently turned their attention to the projected holograms of the zoomans, a handful of them going about their daily lives around them.

“So, speaking of usefulness. These humans. What use are they? Are they used for anything? Do they serve any purpose at all?” asked Emerald with interest.

Holly Blue Agate snorted and waved a hand dismissively. “Hah! No, no. Blue Diamond just likes to have them here. All they do is while away their pathetically brief little lives, ingesting, imbibing, expelling.. barely conscious of anything. As far as anyone's been able to tell these creatures have no intrinsic value, and certainly no conceivable practical use. In fact.. Not one of them has done anything worthwhile in five thousand years that I can think of.”

“That’s..” Emerald blinked her one visionsphere, “That’s completely irrational. And this Perfect Empire’s precious resources are being _propelled_ directly into this.. black hole!?”

Morganite shook her head. “Tsk. How is Yellow Diamond allowing this.”

“I thought at least their organic bodies could be harvested for.. something,” Emerald narrowed her visionsphere. She walked up to one of the human’s hologrammed forms - a woman, laughing at presumably a joke, absolutely ignorant to the grim discussion going on regarding her and her peers - and glared closely at it. “They look soft.. maybe some kind of human-based fabric? But they also look kind of strong - do they have an internal.. structure of some kind that can be harvested?”

“Uh, bones,” said Zee suddenly, earning the direct attention of Holly and the beryls. She faltered. “They have.. bones..” she then lapsed back into silence sheepishly under the dour gaze of Wy.

The upper-crusts turned back away from the quartzes after a moment.

“For the patient acceptance of the Diamonds,” muttered Morganite, short temper suddenly showing on her face. “I have no idea how you put up with any of these insolent Earth quartzes butting in at all times, Agate.”

“I live to serve my _Diamond,_ after all,” said Holly Blue, trying to keep a tired expression from overwhelming her face. It was too late - Morganite noticed the nuance on her features and lapsed into silence for a moment, considering everything.

And it all made sense as she realized this Agate was miserable here. It struck her as entirely reasonable - having to look after these dimwitted organics, surrounded by terrible Earth gems. Maybe this could be important information to tuck away for the future.

Presently, however, they went back to watching the unknowing organic creatures frolicking in their blissful little world as their conversation moved on. The amethysts listened closely, low-key scanning for trouble, but not everyone was as engaged in the chatter anymore.

Morganite's Pearl quietly and uselessly withdrew into herself, even in spite of the idyllic images being projected around her. For, hidden away deep in her aching gemstone, she was still Rhodonite's component Pearl.

And up until only a few months ago she had been free, in a sense - running for her life with a group of her now-lost Off Color friends and her dear, vanished, Ruby.

It had been the most thrilling, greatest and _most terrifying_ period in all her millenia, but it had been cut all too short by horrific circumstance. She had been bubbled - for how long, she wasn’t sure - and when she was allowed to reform, she found herself alone. A servant, once more.

Now, with one fell swoop, she had come to learn beyond a shadow of a doubt that that her Padparadsha had been sequestered away somewhere on Homeworld - the very planet they’d all worked so hard to escape from - an inanimate object, henceforth at the mercy of those who couldn’t possibly care about the wonderful person contained within, with no hope of rescue.

And she had also learned that her Lars was dead.

Forever.

She’d only known him for only the briefest of moments - a single fleeting instant in time compared to her own long life, compared to how long she’d known the others - but she’d felt the bond she’d made with the earthling as deeply as though they’d also known each other for millenia.

That, and she’d known how young the organic was. So _new._ It was a tragedy. Tears threatened, but she just couldn’t allow it.

Not here. Not while insanely high-ranking gems littered the air around her with their important words. Not while she knew that, were she even to so much as place a gravity connector incorrectly, she would be punished.

Pooling with feelings of grief and guilt that she didn’t dare show, with no way out of this, she somberly followed her Morganite and the other beryls obediently as they eventually traversed the hallways back towards the docking bay. She outwardly existed as only a shell amid the sounds of farewell going on around her as she waited for her Morganite to lead her back onto the ship that they’d arrived on. The ship that would whisk them all away from this place.

 _Somecycle,_ she promised herself as she finally boarded the ship, _This pain will be useful._

 

* * *

 

Shortly after the departure, down in the Quarters, the quartzes were jubilant. A small few of them were in their cubbies having belated anxiety attacks, but in general the mood was a positive one. Carnelian and Zee embraced as Pearl, Steven and Connie watched the beryl’s ship shrink smaller and smaller into the distance on the screen Connie was holding, which was patched into the ship’s systems.

Lars was over by the doorway, having a quiet conversation with Wy.

“Oh man, that was crazy,” admitted Amethyst to Pearl and Connie once she had reset herself back to her natural form. “I somehow managed to get shuffled into the observation room with them.. y’know, guard-styles, and they started talking about some pretty grim stuff.”

“Like.. what?” asked Connie.

“Like.. they started wondering out loud if they could harvest humans for resources.. stuff like that,” she looked a little disturbed but instantly perked up. “On the plus side we found out something pretty interesting about one of the Off Colors-” but the conversation was cut off as a voice raised loud above the general din and Amethyst, Connie and Pearl all turned to watch.

“You’re all amazing!” said Skinny. “That was our best performance yet, including all those times back when Holly was still in charge! I was hoping, out of all the visits we’ve ever had, that this cycle would be the one we _didn’t_ screw up.” She paused a moment, and then raised her fists. “It finally happened!”

Amidst some cheering, Zee laughed, a little bashful. “Well, you see, standing at attention.. it’s so easy when you have a good captain!” Zee enthusiastically grabbed Skinny and hugged her tightly, yanking her off the ground as she did so. “Your advice was good. You’re a great Captain!”

Gems didn’t need air, not as a matter of survival at least. They did, however, find breathing therapeutic and it definitely helped as far as talking went. They were also in possession of what closely resembled pain receptors. Skinny therefore was rather uncomfortable for a long moment until the larger gem placed her at last back down on her gravity connectors.

“Thanks, Zee,” Skinny smiled as she caught her breath.

“By the way, boss, I got something to tell you.”

Meanwhile, Connie blinked as she suddenly realized her mother wasn’t nearby. She stood on her tip toes to glance around, which didn’t much help, but she soon spotted her anyway, standing alone over by a wall. Passing her screen to Amethyst, Connie sped over to her.

“Mom..?” She asked. “Are you okay?”

“Honey. I’m going to be very honest with you.” Priyanka looked her daughter directly in the eyes. “Part of me wants to take you and your father.. move far, far away from Beach City, and never come back.”

Connie frowned. “Mom, what? C’mon. Usually things aren’t this nuts. Most of the time, it’s really good here.”

“Yeah, until things start getting serious! Like what Pearl was saying about rebellions and what-not when we were hiding up in that control room..”

Connie was a little heartbroken at this. “Mom..”

Priyanka saw her expression and softened. “But. I can tell these gems really care about what they’re doing. They seemed to really pull it together when things were looking dangerous,” she admitted.

Connie nodded. “The quartzes act a little silly sometimes.. most of the time.. but they’re soldiers who have been doing this for thousands of years. They know what they’re doing. And you already know what Pearl and the others are about. I’m not in any danger around them - they know how squishy us humans are, and they’re all on Earth’s side. And.. you saw how Captain Skinny immediately wanted to send us all back to Earth, right? They care about us.”

Priyanka took in her daughter’s eager expression. Her own was one of fear, for her. “You really, really want to keep doing this, don’t you?”

Connie nodded, completely serious. “I really, really do.”

“But it’s because _you_ want to, right? Not because of that boy..?”

“It’s not only because of Steven, although he is my best friend. This _is_ what I want to do,” confirmed Connie. “Mom - as long as the Diamonds have their eyes on Earth, we’re all in terrible danger. I just can’t.. I can’t stand by and let others fight for me. I have to help!”

Priyanka’s expression broke as she stifled a sudden sob. Connie was taken aback as her mother - usually so strong, so decisive and so, so sure of herself - dropped to her knees, suddenly grabbing her and pulling her into herself. A tight, shuddering embrace. Connie returned the gesture despite being a little confused by it all.

“Mom, what’s all this? It’s okay-”

“Promise me, honey,” Priyanka pleaded, voice choked up with dense emotion as she held her young daughter, tears forming at the edges of her eyes, “Don’t get me wrong - N-no matter what happens, I will always love and accept you, and I want you to be happy and healthy and above all _alive_ no matter what-”

“What are you talking ab-”

Priyanka continued, sobbing, begging, “But you have to promise me that you’ll do whatever you need to do- Whatever it is that has to be done.. s-so that you will never, ever have to, as long as you can help it, return to me _pink._ ”

Connie shut her eyes tight and hugged her mother back harder than she ever had before.

 

* * *

 

Later, after the lingering nerves had been eased and life aboard the space station was beginning to return to normal, Skinny turned to Lars, her expression one of seriousness. “Lars. It’s your Sapphire. Listen. We have an updated location. She’s been moved to Homeworld-”

Lars was tense. “Wy told me. I’m in.”

“It’s _Homeworld_ , kid.”

Lars narrowed his eyes slightly, his voice a touch sarcastic. “Thanks, because that one tiny detail totally escaped me.”

She studied him, incredulity rife on her features. She knew how he felt about the center of the Gem Empire - she even had the good sense to feel the same way. “You still want to go? To Homeworld?”

He looked wound-up. “Uh, duh-doy!”

“Okay.” Skinny said grimly, her voice overcast with a cold determination. “Let’s go to Homeworld.”

“Stop saying Homeworld!”

 

* * *

 

Peridot chuckled to herself. She lifted her visor and took a few steps back as her creation sprung to life in front of her.

A massive robonoid, green and round, capable of listening and obeying only her basic orders, a destructive force ready to do her bidding, bowed before her. It made her feel large and important, even though the massive machine absolutely dwarfed her.

It even had a blast cannon lovingly mounted on top, because Peridot never left home without one and wasn’t about to start now.

Carnelian appeared at the door and leaned in. “Hey, P! I forgot you were still down here.”

“Yup! Never left, as agreed per your orders.”

“I dunno if you know already, but everything’s fine now.”

“Huh? Oh.. Yeah, those _guests_.. How did the really unnecessary B Story go, anyway?”

“Really well! Yeah, we even have a plot for the next chapter. And I’m even going to be in it!”

“Wow, go you! That’s really great!”

“I really like your thingy, here. She’s pretty wild.”

“Wow, thanks, Carnelian! Her name is Metal Pumpkin.” She blinked suddenly. “Well, I should be heading off to Earth now. I suddenly really miss my real Pumpkin.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Both my longfics breached 1k hits apiece in the last week! Woo! Pretty stoked about that.
> 
> Poor Rhodonite’s Pearl. So close. I really hope she turns up again somehow.. :3c
> 
> Just wondering - how obvious was it that she was really one of the Off Colors? I wasn’t sure how it was reading but I was -trying- to make it gradually seem more likely to those paying attention as the conversation around her went on, only to remove all doubt at the end of that scene.. I don’t have an editor - ATM I’m writing at least a few weeks in advance, so I’m mostly counting on my own taste x the passage of time to reveal most of my shitty writing to me in time to fix it before updating. It doesn’t always work. :) But I’m interested to know any thoughts about how that landed. 
> 
> I hope I wrote Priyanka realistically. Or, y’know.. as realistically as you can write a mother being kinda okay that her ~13yo daughter is off doing this stuff.
> 
> I love how Peridot considers the bulk of this chapter the B Story. 100% correct, P. (She and Carnelian don’t know they’re in a fanfic. They’re just being silly.)
> 
> Also also - just wondering! Are there any character interactions or anything you guys wanna see in particular in upcoming chapters? I know which character interactions are interesting to me, but I want to know what you find interesting and if I find that interesting too, maybe I’ll write it in the context of this thing.


	16. The Mirror.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Low-stakes Townie adventure! WOOP!
> 
> .. 
> 
> Just kidding.
> 
> In which nothing worth having comes easy.

“You’re going to Homeworld?”

Wy nodded.

Jade hesitated. “For business, or..”

“We’re rescuing an embedded gem,” replied Wy with the sweetest smile she could manage.

The Bridge’s viewport displayed a clearly disturbed Jade looking very anxious. “Tell me this line is secure!”

“Yes, of course it is.” Peridot replied from her seat at one of the consoles, taking a short break from monitoring the security of the communique’s transmission in order to smile smugly up at the other green gem’s image. “Very much so. You think I’m a clod!?”

“Not a clod, per se..” The viewport then showed a thoughtful Jade raising a touchstump to scratch lightly at her chin. “But you could do so much more than that. You could - theoretically, mind - perform the crime of sabotage.” The thought of it made her smile despite herself. “To make things more difficult for Homeworld.”

Wy smiled from her position standing in the center of the space station’s bridge. “With ya. We were talking about going for one of the Communication Hubs, but-”

Jade was frantic, waving her hands around. “No, don’t tell me!”

“Plausible deniability. Right,” frowned Wy.

“Anyway,” continued Jade, suddenly calm again. “A Communication Hub can easily be rebuilt within a cycle, especially on Homeworld.. No. You want to make your strikes count.”

Peridot perked up. “That’s what I said!” she smiled slyly. “Now, Jade - what’s the first thing you think of when I ask you what would make for an excellent target.”

Peridot and Jade made eye contact and at the same time, said; “The Information Core of Facet Six!”

Wy looked confused. Lars, who was hanging out away off in a corner somewhere messing around on a screen, looked up and raised a hand. “Uh, yeah. What’s that?”

“A datacenter,” said Bea, who was also nearby, hunched over a different console.

Peridot cast Bea a dour glance before turning back to Wy and Lars. “It’s only the most _important_ datacenter on Homeworld,” she enthused. “It would _really_ screw up a lot of things associated with the running and maintenance of a large portion of Homeworld’s administrative functions.”

“Sounds.. important,” said Wy.

“A computer,” Lars meanwhile looked a little disappointed. “Magic, tech - Why can’t you gems just pick one?”

“It’s a magic computer made from crystal!” beamed Peridot.

Lars snorted. “Of course it is.”

“I can send you information on that, too. So much time and many, many resources would be wasted fixing it,” continued Jade. Then she blinked. “Hypothetically, of course. But it’ll be heavily guarded. You’ll need your sapphire. And the peridot will need limb enhancers. But.. I didn’t tell you any of that!”

Wy smiled a strained, weary smile. “You’re cute when you’re trying and failing to distance yourself from incredibly incriminating conversations.”

Returning her smile, Jade replied. “Speaking of, I have appointments to keep. I need to go. Good luck.”

“Thanks, but we won’t need it,” Wy replied confidently.

“Yes you will,” replied Jade, quietly. “I’m in love with you, y’know.” she paused. “I just.. I needed you to hear that. In case-”

Wy smiled, fumbling her hands uselessly in front of her as she turned a deeper purple in the face, and cut her off. “I know, and I’m in love with you,” Wy smiled. A short silence passed before she added, “You go first.”

“No,” Jade smiled, “You go.”

“No! You go!”

Jade’s image blinked out.

Wy was appalled. “She.. hung up on me!”

Lars wasn’t interested in squicky emotions right now. He was all business. “What are these limb enhancers that Peridot supposedly needs?”

Wy looked thoughtful. “I think we have some lying around somewhere. They’re Carnelian’s, but we can probably make them green somehow.”

Lars raised an eyebrow. “Soo, paint? Steven can bring paint.”

“I don’t need them,” insisted Peridot. “Don’t want ‘em, either.”

“Ohhh.. probably should,” said Wy. “An Era Two Peridot not meeting her height requirements would raise some eyebrows.”

“Fine,” said Peridot, looking a bit deflated as Wy turned back to Lars.

“Why don’t you ever talk to your ‘Sadie’ over comms, Lars? We’ve got this stable persistent line to Earth, now.. barring the _Steven Incident_ , of course.”

He was quick to change the subject. “Hah! Me and Sadie just call them _Stevens_. Like, when he spills coffee all over the counter - that’s _a Steven._ ”

“ _Stevens_ are pretty great, right?!” said Peridot, perking back up. “Except.. when they’re not.”

Unlike Peridot, Wy couldn’t be distracted so easily. “Why, though?”

Lars let his screen fall flat against his torso and glared at Wy.

“Complicated?” she asked after a moment of this.

Lars rolled his eyes. “Yeah.”

He shifted awkwardly in his seat as two sets of visionspheres watched him. Wy raised an eyebrow at him, expectantly, and Lars reluctantly let some words fall from his face.

“You already know how I kinda, uh, ditched her to save myself.”

“You _what!?”_ asked Peridot, a sudden cold wave washing over her.

But Wy nodded in perfect understanding. “Oh, P - don’t you know? Lars here was abducted along with his _friend_ Sadie, Connie and some other members of your Beach City and after Steven broke the Topaz fusion apart, he had a chance to save Sadie but ran away and got stuck on the ship instead while she escaped along with everyone else, and then Steven gave himself up for his mother’s crimes against the diamonds, then they both ended up on Homeworld where-”

Lars, waving his arms around, cut her off. “Yah, okay, thanks for the _great summary of my whole deal, Wy!_ ”

“She probably misses you, though.”

Through grit teeth, he urged; “Wy, not in front of Peridot! It’s embarrassing!”

“Hey, I’m here too,” said Bea Jasper.

“I- uh, wait.” Wy seemed confused. “Did you say my name? Or are you asking a question?”

“Aren’t we supposed to be _planning a mission!?_ ”

An audible sniff escaped Peridot, which took both Wy and Lars by surprise. She slid back down into her chair to hide her face from them and furiously scrubbed it with her forearm, but the moment was derailed by Skinny stepping out of the orb as it expelled her in the center of the bridge.

“Stars,” she complained. “Have any of you ever noticed how _big_ this station is?”

“She’s gone already,” said Wy. “Important gem stuff.”

“Boulders,” cursed Skinny. “Did she know anything?”

Peridot, having recovered somewhat, stood up in her chair and leaned over the back of it to address Skinny. “Yeah, she basically gave us the layout of the Eternity Archive. And then I had a great idea about what else we can do while we’re there, and she agreed.”

“Good,” said Skinny. “We’ll go over everything we have when everyone gets here and come up with a plan.”

 

* * *

 

“This was such a great idea,” said Amethyst sarcastically as she sat in the Roaming Eye currently on a course to Homeworld. She found a wave of nervousness about this whole venture starting to hit her. “Let’s drag as many flawed gems to Homeworld as possible, so we can rescue yet another flawed gem.”

Carnelian punched a fist into the air. “Woo! Flawed gems!”

“..Why didn’t we think of this sooner?” finished Amethyst.

“At least you guys can shapeshift,” complained Stevonnie, feeling ridiculous in some fancy-looking tan/pink getup which everyone felt would add an air of untouchable exoticness to them that would distract the casual observer from the fact that they were clearly the oddest ‘gem’ ever. “There’s no way I can fight in this.”

“It’s for a reason,” muttered Lars, who was dressed similarly in pinks except for a pink gem-looking shard strapped to the side of his arm. It was part of a fixture that had accidentally been snapped off part of the space station’s interior accidentally and never fixed, but instead had been shaped into a gemstone for the purpose of this mission. But he was mostly trying to convince himself. His eyes grew shiny as he followed up with, “I miss my cape.”

“You can’t fight very well in a cape,” Stevonnie reminded him.

“I can’t fight very well, period. Might as well have a cape.”

They were on a Roaming Eye, warping to Homeworld, and the nerves were getting the best of them. Garnet had her arms folded as she stood in the center of the bridge, gazing out the main viewport with an intense look on her face.

The ship exited hyperspeed.

“We’re here,” gulped Peridot from the pilot’s chair, working the controls with her limb enhanced touchstumps. “And we’re descending now.” She flicked her mechanical fingers with a look of disgust on her features. “Augh. I _swear_ the paint on these things still isn’t dry..”

Homeworld in all its broken, terrible glory was looming large right in front of them and slowly getting larger. Neither Stevonnie nor Amethyst were expecting such a sight.

“Is that..” asked Stevonnie, unable to comprehend how anything could live on such a world. Anything _organic,_ they reminded themself, with a quick glance at Lars who was regarding the sight before them with apprehension.

Skinny came to stand next to Garnet, staring at the broken planet from the viewport. “In all this time, it.. hasn’t changed,” Garnet said in a low voice.

“I know,” said Skinny as she narrowed her eyes at the scene.

“What happened here?!” came Amethyst’s disbelief, wholly unused to planets being anything other than living round globes.

“It’s always been like this,” said Garnet quietly, and Skinny nodded.

Amethyst ripped her eyes away from the viewport to gaze up at the other quartzes on the bridge who, along with everyone else, were fixated on the ruined yet dazzling planet. “Did you guys.. come here? When?”

Skinny Jasper adopted a thousand yard dead-eyed stare as she thought back through the years. “We were poofed, bubbled, and brought here. All of us who came from Earth, all of us who managed to evacuate.. to be interrogated and judged after it was all over.”

“Guys,” said Lars quietly. “I didn’t know.”

Amethyst’s eyes widened at how terrifying that sounded. “Huh.. Can’t say I’m upset that I missed out on that.”

“Yeah. There was nothing fun about it,” Skinny admitted, gazing at the ruined planet with pain evident on her features. “The inquisition into Earth, the Crystal Gems and the demise of Pink Diamond went on for _decades_.”

With a burning curiosity, Amethyst asked, “What happened?”

Skinny tightened her lips. “..Eventually, those who were deemed to have been Crystal Gems or sympathizers to their cause..” she paused to exhale, “And even those who just, said the wrong thing at the wrong time.. We never saw them again.”

Pearl had been standing to the side of the ship’s bridge, listening with an open-jawed silence at this even-tempered description of a deeply-held shared trauma. She presently closed her mouth and gazed down at the floor, clenching her hands uselessly at her sides, a troubled look on her face as Skinny waved a hand around, continuing.

“We tried and tried to find out what became of them, but-” She wore an expression of profound sadness. “Maybe.. they’re.. part of the Cluster now. Who knows.”

Wy and Zee both wandered over to stand by her friend. Carnelian did the same, placing a hand on her thigh.

“The rest of us were re-purposed. Taken to work at the Human Zoo,” finished Zee. “Which I guess in the end wasn’t so bad, but.. still.”

Wy folded her arms at the two betas. This trip down memory lane had taken an obvious toll on her. “I still have _no idea_ how you two snuck past The Judgement.”

At the looks of confusion this received, Skinny explained. “Pink Diamond, to her credit, embraced defective, faulty gems such as Carnelian and myself enough to allow us to exist and work.”

“And fight,” added Carnelian. “But not much else.”

“Whereas Blue and Yellow, not so much,” continued Skinny. “There were many other Beta Kindergarten defectives who weren’t as lucky as us. A few Prime, too.”

Amethyst was curious. “Hey, where was Jasper in all this? The one we fought? Who got.. corrupted?”

Skinny waved a hand around briefly. “She was interrogated as well as the rest of us, but Yellow had already seen her fight. She saw the look on her face when she spoke of the shattered Pink and the guilty Rose. We all did.”

Zee tightened her lips. “Yellow saw that Jasper was completely flawless and took her for herself.”

Carnelian nodded. “You suffer because it’s what you deserve.”

At these words, Peridot clenched a fist. Stevonnie stiffened..

And Amethyst completely sank at the shoulders. Jasper’s words - she heard them in _her_ voice, clear as a bell in her mind.

“We all get what we deserve,” Amethyst recited, eyes downcast. She thought of Jasper and the look on her face, just before she succumbed to the corruption, just before the end - the pure outrage. She sighed. “Yeah, I’ve definitely heard that one before.”

Stevonnie became engulfed briefly in a white light, but didn’t quite manage to unfuse. Their form solidified again quickly. “S-sorry,” they sniffed. “I’m good now.”

“Wait, wait,” said Lars, his face hollow and worn. “This whole thing.. it’s insane! You guys, you don’t have to come back here for _me-_ ”

Lars was met with a clear glare from Skinny. “Don’t be stupid, Lars. This isn’t about you. Hasn’t been since the Summit.”

“This is for Earth and your sapphire,” Zee added.

“We’re doing this,” said Garnet with a tone of finality. “We have a plan, we know our roles, and we’re not leaving until the job is done.”

 

* * *

 

The Information Core in Facet Six was a massive crystalline spire standing tall and rising high into the atmosphere. A nearby warp pad activated and a small guard of a mix of perfectly-formed quartzes and a ruby escorting a sapphire and a limb-enhanced peridot stepped down from it, and out onto the sterile Homeworld street that hung aloft in midair in the midst of towering many buildings.

The day, aglow with a pleasant bright light, nonetheless weighed down on the group uncomfortably. The sky above them - eternally peaceful and calm - was hazy with some stars visible despite how light it was. The three quartzes were on high-alert but did their best to be walking around on Homeworld as though it were the most usual of cycles.

The street around them had a vague amount of traffic on it, in the form of other groups of gems - each group usually comprised of one or two more important-looking and obviously high-ranking gems followed by a flurry of guards or technicians. Occasionally a pearl. At one point, a troop of quartzes soldiered on past them. Our plucky zookeepers were naturally compelled to study them, hopefully discreetly, as they passed but there was no hint of recognition there. They were simply quartzes that had been made at a different time, on a different colony - not a single lost Earth sibling among them. These quartzes were the equivalent of some far flung distant cousins, perhaps, but no closer. Certainly with no Earth to bind them together.

Peridot caught sight of a petite blue gem, somewhere in a passing crowd, but the pain inside made her quickly avert her eyes.

“Still the same old Homeworld,” mused Peridot quietly as she gazed around in a different direction. “But I suppose I’m.. a lot newer than the rest of you, and you were all last here thousands of years back! You guys must think it’s way different now.”

“Well,” said Sapphire, “Yes and no.”

Peridot scratched her head at the contradictory answer, but they had more important things to focus on.

As they approached their target, they noticed a couple of topaz guards - one blue, one yellow - watching them from either side of the entranceway. The escort came to a halt as the guards crossed their spears, blocking the way forward for them.

Behind her, Skinny, Carnelian and Zee stiffened, but Ruby knew that Sapphire knew exactly what to say.

“Greetings, Topaz,” she nodded at one, and then the other, “Topaz. Your concern is appreciated, but there really is no need,” she stated in a disarming manner. “We come at the behest of Blue Diamond.”

The topazes exchanged glances. One of them spoke up. “For what purpose?”

“Emergency maintenance of the Core,” said Peridot.

The topazes exchanged glances and the one that had spoken previously raised a surprised eyebrow. “There is nothing wrong with the Information Core-”

“Not yet,” said Sapphire simply.

The instant they realized a sapphire was speaking a warning, the topazes jumped over themselves to usher the escort through. The idea that anything would go wrong with the Core under their careful watch was a deeply-held fear of theirs.

Little did they know.

The inside of the facility was thankfully devoid of gems. The doors slid shut behind them. The main thing that caught their attention in this room was the gigantic crystalline structure that stood tall in the center of it. There was a pulsating glow emanating from within, and things resembling thick arterial cables ran out from it and into the walls of the building around it. Peridot took a few steps towards it, the sole one among them to be able to appreciate its significance.

Skinny took a moment to stop being impressed by the Core to instead consider Sapphire. “Not _yet_ ,” repeated in awed tones. “Wow, Sapphire!”

Zee’s voice was also thick with admiration. “You’re amazing! You really dropped the bomb on those guards!”

“Yeah,” hyped Ruby, incredibly proud. “And the beauty of it all - it wasn’t even a lie because there really _will_ be something very wrong with it, ultra-soon!” She pressed her hands together in a cheerfully evil way.

Sapphire smiled and blushed delicately, pleased at the praise and the kiss that Ruby soon bestowed upon her cheek.

“Now, we’re at the point where my usefulness ends,” Sapphire said modestly as she took Ruby’s hand. “Peridot - the rest is all you.”

Peridot nodded up at the structure. “This is a triumph of gem engineering! It’s a magnificent piece. I.. almost feel bad that we’re about to destroy it.”

“Uh. Do it anyway?” came Carnelian’s suggestion. “It’d be a shame not to. We came all this way, after all.”

“Of course, of course!” replied Peridot as she strode over to inspect the core for weak spots. There was nothing else any of the other gems could do to help besides wait.

“Well,” said Ruby as the rest of them waited. “This visit to Homeworld hasn’t been so-”

“Don’t say it,” said Sapphire with a touch of comical caution. “Don’t jinx it.”

Ruby smiled and held up her hands. “Okay, okay.”

Skinny, having been standing still now for a while while was beginning to feel the strain she was putting on her physical form by appearing perfectly form. She stretched uncomfortably. “This form.. it’s so shitting difficult to hold.”

Ruby frowned at the odd use of the swear.

“You’re telling me,” said Carnelian, her current bigger, taller ‘perfect’ form being much more of an imposition on the much smaller gem. “Em makes it look so easy! It must be talent.”

Peridot shrugged as she studied the core. “Amethyst has had a lot of practice. She uses shapeshifting for all sorts of pointless endeavors.”

“Like what?” asked Carnelian, undyingly curious about the one quartz she was slightly taller than.

Peridot scratched her head as she climbed up the side of the Core a short way. “Like.. sneaking up on me when I’m not looking. For stealing donuts from the Donut Mayor. For looking around corners. For opening the refrigerator from the other side of the house- Ah HAH! I have it! A weak spot!”

Everyone glanced up at her.

“This is perfect,” she was almost cackling as she slid back down to the ground. “We need Garnet!”

“Right!” nodded Ruby. She and Sapphire needed no additional urging, and after a moment Garnet stood before them once more.

“Right up there, exactly where I just was,” Peridot instructed. “I need you to zap this part riiiight here with your ultra-cool electric powers! Don’t hold back!”

“Consider it a thing that has already been done,” said Garnet, right before she placed her hands where Peridot indicated. After a moment’s worth of concentration, an extremely large burst of energy surged through Garnet, out through her hands, and into the core.

Gems, being comprised of light themselves, could stare into an exploding star and feel fine.. until the shockwave hit, of course. Even if they wanted to look away, they couldn’t. Once it was over, the glowing interior was no more.

Garnet stepped away from it casually, as though she hadn’t just compromised a large part of Homeworld’s cycle-to-cycle functioning for now - as though everything was fine.

As though Homeworld’s forces weren’t going to hunt them down for it.

Now was the time to be serious - any celebration would have to wait. Skinny and Carnelian resumed their natural physical forms and pulled their weapons as the five of them turned to face the door which, they could reasonably assume, was moments away from sliding open.

They had of course come to this place with the expectation that they’d have to fight their way out.

The doors presently began to slide open, bright white light from the daystar beyond it spilling in.

 

* * *

 

On another part of Homeworld, another warp pad activated. A couple of exotic-looking gems stepped down from it, accompanied by a pearl and a couple of perfectly formed amethysts.

“I feel extremely weird about this,” said Wy as she tried her best to just follow along, playing the role of amethyst guard.

A quiet chorus of agreement rose from the rest of them as Pearl guided them along.

“Returning here as a rebel isn’t easy for me either,” Pearl uttered quietly, “But we need to keep it together. Pretend we belong.”

Soon, the Eternity Archive - a massive building that didn’t look dissimilar in style to a neo-classical museum on Earth rose up to meet them. A topaz guard eyed them with vague interest as they passed, but she offered no resistance. These gems looked rare enough around these parts to have come a long way to the archive, and important looking gems were usually the most irritable.

Once inside, they could hardly believe it. They did it. They had gained access to the archive.

It was a massive place - like a warehouse, but much fancier looking. Elaborate shelving units designed with geometry in mind and littered with all kinds of crazy-looking artifacts lined the entire place as a complicated maze which, frankly, intimidated Stevonnie, Lars and the gems as they attempted to take the place in.

Pearl stepped forward. “So. An orange sapphire, triangular facet, stuck in a mirror.” She gazed around the archive - what she could see of it, anyway. “Hoooooow.. Uh.”

Each of them wore an expression of sheer overwhelming despair as none of them could tell where to start.

“I guess we should.. split up?” suggested Lars, shrugging.

“That’s what they do in cartoons,” the suggestion gathered the support of Stevonnie.

“Cartoons, huh?” smiled Amethyst. “They never once led me astray. All right, what if we each start with an aisle and-”

Before they could squabble over how to best approach this mammoth of a task, they were accosted by a friendly archivist - a slender blue gem wearing something that Lars and Stevonnie could both swear resembled eyeglasses. She seemed pleasant enough and approached in a non-threatening manner, but everyone’s nerves got the better of them and they jumped awkwardly.

“Blue Apatite,” Pearl said quickly in a contextual way for the benefit of the others before continuing, “Well.. Hello!”

Blue Apatite immediately moved her visionspheres away from Pearl. Also dismissing the two amethysts out of hand, she soon regarded Stevonnie in pure confusion for a moment before coming to a rest on Lars.

Yes. Whoever this gem was, Blue Apatite apparently considered her important enough to talk to.

“My apologies,” said Blue Apatite. “You are such a rare and exotic gem - I’m unsure how to address you..”

“Pezzottaite, of course,” replied Lars with a careful pissy frown on his face, falling back into the old persona he’d used during the ill-fated spaceship heist on Upsilon IX with only a slight amount of reluctance.

“Pezzottaite! Of course!” parroted the archivist. “You’re simply radiant!”

He smiled out of confusion. “Uh.. thank.. you! You.. too.”

Pearl cleared her throat and Lars understood belatedly that it was not the done thing for an _important_ gem to be thankful, but the archivist only seemed pleased by the words.

“Another glorious cycle under the guidance and wisdom of our glittering diamonds, huh? How may I assist you?”

“Uh..” he cleared his throat and forced himself to feel at least a little confident. And arrogant. Arrogance was important, he knew, but the last time he’d done this had not gone very well. “Well, Blue Apatite, I’m hoping you’ll help us. My friend Morganite told me she’d visited this archive, and she had the most _ridiculous_ story about a useless mirror.”

Blue Apatite smiled and clasped her hands together in front of her. This only encouraged him.

“I just _had_ to immediately bring my personal guard so we could all come by and see it for ourselves.”

“Oh, yes! I know just the Morganite. I had the pleasure of serving her myself. Please, do follow me.”

She turned and led the way. Lars shot a quick smirk at the others before following along with them all in tow.

“Don’t get too cocky,” Pearl quietly cautioned him. “The moment you run into anyone who knows what a _real_ pezzottaite looks and sounds like is the moment you’re done for. You’re just lucky they’re such a rare cut of gem.”

“Pfft. I used to just tell people I was Era Two,” came his offhand reply, to which Pearl widened her eyes.

“What - and it worked?! _That’s_ the cover you should have used back on Sigma III!” she quietly screamed.

“I _hate_ this cover. It’s less pressure pretending to be a quartz.”

“Y-you.. teenagers!” Pearl spluttered, voice still a whisper. “This isn’t about having _fun_ -”

Lars spoke quietly through grit teeth. “I super- _duper_ know that, ma’am.”

“Stop arguing,” whispered Stevonnie. “We all got this!”

“Here we are,” Blue Apatite’s cheerful voice up ahead silenced them. “The mirror section.”

In front of them stood a series of structures that resembled trophycases. Upon them were displayed many small handheld mirrors - all were facing away so that their backs were shown as if to make the selection of the correct mirror easy, one could assume. Lars’ eyes quickly fell upon an orange gem with a triangular facet which had been placed slightly apart from the rest of them.

It was her. Padparadscha. He watched as Blue Apatite confirmed his suspicion by selecting it and holding it in her hand.

“We don’t know too much about it,” the archivist was saying, “But the gemstone apparently came from a sapphire who really should have known better than to-”

She continued to blather on relentlessly as her small audience stared instead at the mirror. Soon, she was offering it to Lars.

“Here,” she said. “Look for yourself. Ask it anything.”

He quietly accepted the mirror, holding it carefully in his hand. It was weighty and elaborate, with a geometric pattern etched into the glass. He stared into it, seeing at first only himself.

Stevonnie approached behind Lars and craned to look into the mirror as well. The images of the fusion and the guy quickly began to warp and blinked out, replaced instead by a series of moving silhouettes amid a dark blue background.

Now, everyone including Blue Apatite was craning to see.

It first showed a small orange figure, running behind a much taller dark pink figure with four arms. In front of them, a two-headed figure shrouded in red tones, behind a much, much larger caterpillar-like figure in seagreen. And, finally, in the lead, a skinny, lanky pink figure.

All were running. Interminably running.

The orange figure, far behind the others, stumbled and fell, only for the pink figure to turn back for it. This little scene played over and over, ending the same way every time - with a gigantic orange figure suddenly rushing the little scene. The smaller orange figure poofing.

It had long since dawned on everyone that the mirror was frantically attempting to communicate with Lars.

Of course, Blue Apatite wore an expression of intense confusion.

“That’s.. new. It’s never done this before, I swear. How could it do that? W-wait. How-”

Her eyes glanced between the replaying visual, and the pink gem in front of her with her visionspheres so fraught with a sudden expression of.. of.. she couldn’t quite place it, but it all suddenly clicked into place.

It took a little longer for her to figure out what to do. “Oh.. oh no. No no no. Nooo.. no no no no no no. Y-you’re all rebels. I need Topaz-”

She took a couple of steps backwards and gasped as she bumped straight into the two amethysts.

“Going somewhere, Blue?” asked Amethyst.

They grabbed her and held her - she struggled out of fear, but against the two quartzes she was ineffective at best.

“Let - let me go! We can talk about this-”

Meanwhile, Stevonnie was attempting to talk Lars down.

“Hey, Lars?” said Stevonnie, carefully, also unable to rip their eyes away from the brief simple looping silent motion movie of ultimate sadness. “The irony isn’t lost on me as I say this, but - we should release her back in the ship where it’s safe-”

Ignoring them, he spun the mirror around and frowned at the little orange gem embedded into the back of it. He slowly placed his fingers around it. It was stuck in there pretty well but, after exerting some force, it suddenly popped out.

“Or here, where it’s not,” Stevonnie added as they took a couple of steps back.

In one hand, he held the mirror. In the other, his little friend’s gem - the very core of her being.

Then two things happened.

The mirror glass shattered violently as he held it in his hand, sending glittering shrapnel flying out in front of him.

And the gem in his other hand emitted a bright orange glow. It floated away from him as he stepped back to watch it hang in the air nearby, free of its confines now. As both he and Stevonnie watched, a form composed of bright white light spilled out of it. After what seemed like a momentary glitch, the reformed Padparadscha Sapphire floated down and stood on the ground.

Blue Apatite’s mouth dropped.

Padparadscha first frowned up at her blue ex-captor, then in confusion at the strange amethysts seizing her. She twitched in surprise as one of them nodded at her.

“Heya!” said Amethyst. “What’s.. what’s shakin’?”

Padparadscha gasped, clearly afraid. She then spun around to face Lars. She immediately pushed her bangs aside to gaze up at him and gasped in disbelief, covering her mouth with her other hand. “Captain! It’s really-”

He realized his jaw was hanging open and shut it. It took another few seconds for him to say something and when he did, his voice wavered. “My Clarity..”

A silence passed between them, and they both chuckled at the ridiculousness of it all as if they hadn’t missed a beat.

Suddenly, Padparadscha leapt into his arms, hugging her arms around his neck and shoulders, and all the laughter quickly turned into crying.

“Lars - I’m sorry! I got us all.. killed!” she sobbed, reeling from a horrific event which was still fresh in her mind.

He hugged back tightly, a stream of tears descending his own face as well. “It’s not your fault. I should’ve-”

“You did everything right. I-I should have been quicker-”

“No, no, when things started going wrong, I should’ve grabbed you and-”

Padparadscha was tearing up. “You _should_ have left me. You _should_ have warped out of there and saved yourselves!”

“P.. Padpara-”

“I’m just a useless sapphire,” she muttered darkly as she sobbed. “I’m of no use to you.”

“That’s.. super untrue. And even if it was, it’s not a good enough reason to just leave you.”

Padparadscha just buried her face in his chest. He held her and sniffed. “C’mon, the only use I had to you once was as a portal straight to Earth, and you stayed with me instead. You all did.” He paused a moment. “Hey, do you know where anyone else is?”

“No,” she shuddered.

Another loud sniff happened behind him. He turned to identify the origin, but only saw Stevonnie there. Their hands were clasped in front of them, eyes wide with tears and snot streaming down their face.

Lars was awkward, suddenly aware of everyone else again. “..Oh. Uhh- Stevonnie?”

“No, no, I’m okay!” the fusion sobbed, dragging their forearm across their face, sniffing deeply before exhaling. Soon, a shaky smile crossed their features. “I’m fine! Do the portal thing. Let’s go.”

Lars barked up a portal back to the ship and Amethyst elbowed Wy suddenly. “Yo, wait. What’re we gonna do about Blue?” she asked, nodding down at the scared gem they’d both apprehended earlier.

“Poof her? Who cares,” said Lars as he continued to comfort Padparadscha. Stevonnie couldn’t help but wonder at how cold his suggestion was.

Pearl narrowed her eyes to give the topic a little more consideration, but shortly nodded in agreement. “She’s seen and heard too much. _Quickly._ We need to move.”

Wy and Amethyst nodded back and soon the gemstone that had up until then projected the terrified physical form of Blue Apatite dropped to the floor, inactive. Amethyst ducked down to bubble it and lifted it up. “Done. One Prisoner of War.”

“I predict you’ll have.. a new crew,” Padparadscha said suddenly. Before Lars could deny it, she caught sight of Stevonnie. “Who is that? Is that..”

“This is Stevonnie - Steven and his friend Connie, mashed together as a fusion. You remember Steven, right?”

Padparadscha perked right up, smiling. “Of course! Hello, Stevonnie!”

Stevonnie smiled widely! “Padparadscha, hi! It’s both good to see you again, _and_ a pleasure to meet you! So glad you’re back.”

Padparadscha’s smile turned a little shaky through her tears. “Glad to be back.”

Lars stopped and killed the portal as a nearby crystal display case caught his eye. Inside it hung a cape - dark outside, deep pink in, gold trim, high collar. Lars was dumbfounded.

“Wahahah!” laughed Amethyst, who had also heard of the legendary cape and put two and two together. “When it rains, it pours!”

“Whoa,” Stevonnie barreled over to gape at it through the glass. Or was it crystal? “Lars - this is the cape you keep talking about? It’s so cool! No wonder you love it so much.”

Padparadscha nodded. “I saw that the archivists were attempting to discover how this appearance modifier was able to give an organic beast the power of rational thinking and the ability to pass as a gem..” She frowned, deeply serious. “Captain. These are merely simple archivists - they have no idea of the incredible raw power they are meddling with here. I think we should steal it back, lest it fall into the wrong hands and used for _evil._ ” She paused. “Or.. used for good? Since they think that we’re the ones in the wrong?”

Lars smiled. “Rational thinking, huh?”

“Here, let me,” said Stevonnie, raising their sword as if to bring it down into the display. Lars quickly put a hand on their shoulder to stop them.

“And wreck my awesome cape? Naw.” Lars cleared his throat and a little portal popped up into existence, the exit inside the case. He used it to snatch the cape through, laughing. “Hah! Suck it, Homeworld!”

He rather unceremoniously balled the cape up and threw it into his forehead.

“Captain! I predict you’ll have powers!” came Padparadscha’s amazed gasp. “How fortunate for us all!”

 

* * *

 

A portal opened up in the middle of an empty Roaming Eye bridge and Team Padparadscha spilled out from it onto the floor.

“Where are they!?” asked Amethyst as she waved the bubbled Blue Apatite up into an out-of-the-way corner of the ship.

“Nobody’s here,” said Stevonnie, glancing around with a deep sense of dread. “Uhh-”

“The Information Core,” said Pearl urgently. “Lars-”

He was a little flustered. “I-I dunno if I _can_ throw a portal to somewhere I’ve never-”

“That’s fine, we’ll go the old-fashioned way!” called Stevonnie, heading for the exit. “What if they’re on their way back? We don’t wanna miss them!”

 

* * *

 

The fight had started as soon as the topaz guard entered and saw that the core was no longer vital, which was immediately. One of them sprung forward to engage the intruders while the other tapped something into a nearby panel. An emergency alarm - Garnet saw more trouble in their future for certain, but the two singular topazes were easy enough for Garnet and her quartz allies to dispatch.

“Too easy,” she said, frowning, as Zee rushed forward to bubble the gems of their enemies. “Don’t get comfortable.”

Skinny held her sword at the ready and approached the door. It opened to a clear coast, but she knew better than to ignore Garnet’s words. They spilled out of the building to find a large troop of soldiers land in front of them, weapons out, ready to roll.

Zee crossed her stilettos as she eyed them grimly. Carnelian raised her bladed hands. Peridot extended a hand towards the enemy and quickly was able to select a non-gem weapon from one of them - a big old battleaxe. It wrenched itself out of the startled citrine’s hands and began to attack her as Garnet and the quartzes rushed forward to engage them in battle.

 

* * *

 

The landing on the Facet Six warp pad was an eventful one - a full-on emergency was happening in front of them. Everyone gaped and Padparadscha clung even tighter to Lars as they witnessed the Homeworld force battling their friends, who were doing well at holding their own in front of the building containing the Information Core despite being outnumbered.

The Padparadscha Rescue Squad began to spring into action. Stevonnie thrust their arm into Lars’ head for the sword, but his mind had been racing and before he’d fully formed a complete plan, he shouted, “Wait, stop!”

“Huh?” asked Stevonnie.

“Dude! Do you mind!?” he was verging on becoming one hundred percent frantic.

The fusion pulled the sword from his head quickly, giving him ample space to take a deep breath. This time, he attempted to project his scream further than usual, and it paid off as a portal swirled into being in the air above their friends. The shock of the sudden appearance caught the Homeworld force offguard, and they fell back a little, giving Garnet and the quartzes some room to breathe.

It was Garnet who called out of the others. “Everyone! Up!”

The five of them leapt upward into the portal before it blinked out of existence, Garnet grabbing Peridot by the head as she did so.

“Uh, so long!” waved Zee before she disappeared.

Everyone on the warp pad breathed a collective sigh of relief as their friends reached safety, until they realized the Homeworld forces had them in their crosshairs now instead and were beginning to advance.

 

* * *

 

A portal soon opened to expel the rest of the party, plus one, back into the Roaming Eye. Everyone at once took their places. There was no time for celebration - the situation had been cut too close and while they had been successful in their dual missions, they had no wish to push their luck further.

Peridot was ripping off her limb enhancers as she made her way over to the front pilot’s console. Immediately, an emergency alert popped up on the viewport.

It showed the face of an agate. A grumpy one. “To all ships currently docked on Homeworld - an executive order to remain on the ground until such a time as all ships have been searched has been issued-”

Peridot swiped the console with a finger, and the alert disappeared. Instantly, Warning signs rendered in Gemlish lined the walls of the ship, accompanied by an abrasive alarm. Peridot sweated.

“What’s happening?” asked Skinny, deceptively calm.

Peridot frowned incredibly hard as she worked, typing furiously into the console. “They weren’t kidding..”

“I predict this ship will be rendered physically incapable of taking off as a direct result of your act of sabotage,” said Padparadscha. “What a glum future for us all.”

The eyes of all those unoccupied with re-enabling the ship were on Padparadscha. Lars noticed this and smiled. “Isn’t she great?”

“Captain,” said Zee. “What do we do!?”

“Well..” Skinny scratched her head. “We.. wait for Peridot?”

“If this ship’s about to be searched, shouldn’t we.. run?” asked Amethyst, clearly worried.

“And go where!?” Lars was alarmed, fear playing heavily on his features as he held a quietly terrified Padparadscha. “This place sucks! The only place safe from gems is probably still riddled with shattering robonoids and we are NOT going back there!”

“Okay dude, don’t flip out,” said Amethyst, frowning as she attempted to remain upright against one of the walls.

“With respect, shut up everyone!” ordered Peridot, typing furiously at the console. “I’ve overridden the whatever - It’s not important. But - Garnet! You’ve gotta do an encore! I need you to zap the ship’s engine this time!”

Garnet balled her fists grimly. “Just point me at it.”

One more core-zap later, they were in the atmosphere. Unfortunately, their takeoff was the most noticeable it had ever been due to the otherwise mass grounding of flights, and the ship spammed alerts about incoming imperial pursuers left and right. Peridot swiped them away, sweating bullets, focusing all her energy on getting them out of the atmosphere.

Splitscreens popped up showing approaching fighters, but Peridot had her initial problem still largely on her mind.

“Is anyone familiar with operating turrets!?” asked Skinny in a high voice.

“I got this,” yelled Pearl as she ran over and took a different console. “You just focus on getting us out of here and into hyperspeed, Peridot!”

“I can’t do that if the ship is being assaulted!”

“Try!” commanded Pearl, as she blasted lasers at their pursuers.

The others couldn’t do anything useful besides stand and stare at the situation going on. Leaving the atmosphere this time was a bumpy ordeal for some reason. Peridot grimaced and, despite her sudden better judgment, reached for the big blinking button on the screen in front of her.

“Hold on!”

She grit her teeth and pressed it.

 

* * *

 

Hyperspeed this time was a far cry from the smooth, frictionless ride it usually was. It was incredibly rocky, and everyone who wasn’t seated found it difficult to get a decent foothold. Nerves all across the board were therefore wound tight.

Peridot, at the front pilot’s chair, glanced up from the screen to the viewport with a worried look on her face, then back down to the control screen. “Okay everyone,” she began awkwardly. “This is going to be.. unpleasant.”

“Why are you saying that!?” asked Skinny from her position where she’d fallen onto the floor. She was trying hard to keep her shit together as a concerned-looking Garnet spun around to face her.

“We were hit,” Garnet said simply.

Peridot nodded, her brow furrowed in deep concern as she studied the screen in front of her. “We took a pretty amazing hit just before we entered warp. It was a really good one.. not for us, mind you, but someone back on Homeworld is probably going to be very proud of herself for quite some time. It caused critical damage across multiple components, including the gravity engine. It’s a wonder we even made it to hyperspeed in the first place!”

“What does that mean!?” Stevonnie asked with a mounting terror in their voice, toying nervously with the hilt of Rose’s sword which was strapped to their side.

Peridot was tapping on the screen furiously as she replied. “If my math is sound, we’re going to exit hyperspeed somewhere in Sector Eight. It.. may not be pretty. And then if we survive that, we _might_ be able to fix it.. if not, we’ll probably float around in space for a few thousand years until our gems are depleted of energy and we die.”

In the middle of it all, the blue apatite gem in the bubble floating above them caught her eye briefly. “What’s this now?”

“What!” Zee was panicked.

“No!” exclaimed Wy.

“That’s grim!” came Lars’ contribution.

“Calm down, everyone!” said Garnet, tense.

“Y-yeah, maybe.. we can fix it!” said Stevonnie. “H-how long till we exit warp?!”

Peridot answered, “I-in about three..”

“Days? But, that’s enough time to-”

“We can’t, there’s no time!” Garnet said, with zero discernible uncertainty, through grit teeth.

“Two-”

Stevonnie, holding onto Peridot, was spitting in the face of reason, grasping at straws to remain optimistic. “HOURS?!”

Peridot’s entire face contorted in fear.

“One.”

The ship shunted gracelessly out of hyperspeed as promised, but fortunately not in an explodey way. Everyone standing took a tumble, but soon all eyes were fixated intently on the viewport once again, upon which they could see that despite the overwhelming immensity of the void of space - and the fact that only 0.0000000000000000000042% of the universe contained any matter whatsoever - they had been spat out in the middle of a relatively dense concentration of matter that happened to take the form of a star system. It was very obvious by the planetary system looming directly in front of them - a huge ruined planet, accompanied by what must have been its moon, to which they were much closer.

And heading towards.

Very fast.

“Pull up, pull up!” shouted Pearl as she stumbled over to the pilot’s chair to try to help, only to find that Peridot was already struggling, attempting to do exactly that. But it was no use, and both Pearl and Skinny tumbled back as the ship shook ominously.

“I predict the prognosis won’t be to our liking, but at least we won’t explode straightway,” Padparadscha said with an odd cheerfulness as she clung onto a terrified Lars, who was in turn clinging to a scared Zee who had grabbed the back of an empty chair, against which she was attempting to brace herself.

The ship ripped apart in atmo moments later.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I assume a typical day on any given street on Homeworld (that isn’t eerily empty) is just specialized groups of gems rushing around keeping tight schedules, trying to fit in, and largely minding their own business? I hope that tracks with you guys.
> 
> Also, did you notice - I finally decided what gem weapons some of the main quartzes have. That took a while.
> 
> 16 chapters in and they have one (1) Padparadscha! But.. they’re also a bit screwed.
> 
> ..Who else hyped af for the movie though? How bout dat neck? :D


	17. The Trek.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> You can’t wander around a jungle without explaining your feelings. It’s basically impossible.

 

**Day One**

Stevonnie opened their eyes to a world of pink.

The bubble containing them burst suddenly, and they felt the earth beneath them. It took them a moment to remember it wasn’t actually Earth, despite the odd blue-green and pink stalk-trees shooting up out of the ground all around them. Despite the decidedly unearthly color of the sky above.

Pulling themself up onto their hands, they cast a worried glance around them. A few pieces of debris from the ruined Roaming Eye were scattered around them, on fire - which on this planet manifested as a bright blue instead of an orange as it was back home.

“Oh boy,” they breathed as they pulled themselves up onto their feet. Continuing to attempt to analyze their surroundings, they asked the question, “Where are we now?” of no one in particular.

“Uh.. hello?!” they called out into the wilderness, hoping to run into someone. “Anybody out there?!”

Then, a little quieter, “Anyone at all?”

A plantlike protrusion on the end of a stalk began to swell up and popped as they walked past, prompting them to jump with a start and face it, sword hilt instinctively in hand, ready to be drawn - but it was a false alarm. It appeared that flowers bloomed rather violently on this planet, and the beautiful pink petaled blossom that had just exploded into being seemed harmless enough.

Stevonnie relaxed and closed their eyes a moment, breathing out.

“Okay. We’re fine.” They stood up straight and turned to strike out into the woods a little. “I’m.. fine. We’ll find the ship’s radio or.. whatever..”

Ahead of them - a console! It was just lying there, not far from them, oddly intact. They yelled happily and began to run towards it - but ground to a halt in the dirt as it exploded into a small fire.

So much for that.

They calmed down. “O-or.. we’ll just, uh, go home through Lars’ head and call the Zoo for help from the temple! W-when we find him..” They frowned. “When we find.. anyone.”

They glanced around again, for the first time noticing the ruined planet gracing the sky above them. Whatever planet or moon they were standing on, it was easily much closer to it than the moon was to Earth, judging by how enormous it seemed in the sky.

“Woah,” the breathed, impressed and a little scared. “Where _are_ we.”

Their brow furrowed as they thought back to the early moments of the emergency. The searing of metal, the rush of wind as the hull was breached. They’d tried to grab Peridot, but the green gem had been sucked out early. They’d noticed as Lars had been knocked out by something, Padparadscha falling away from him, and then there’d been Garnet nearby too. They could remember her clutching the chair, reaching for they them as they fell away from her.

The quartzes - Amethyst - Pearl - they wracked their brain and looked around, but there was no way to tell..

Where were they?

They stiffened as something rustled a nearby bush. In an instant, they raised their shield something leapt out in an attempt to assault them.

They grit their teeth and threw it back, only to find themself face to face with something that resembled a big, purple, four-eyed beetle.

“An alien,” groaned Stevonnie as they had a brief flashback to the other time they met up with belligerent aliens on their own turf.

It growled and sprung on them. With only an instant to react, they drew their sword and sliced the creature in two, in midair. Two separate halves of alien bug thudded onto the ground not very far away from the fusion, and they watched in sudden shock as the front half sprouted legs anew and jumped back onto them. Gaping, they watched as it waddled away back over to the bush it had sprung out from, turning only to hiss at them before disappearing back into it.

Reeling from what they had just witnessed, Stevonnie was at least glad the creature was okay.

They were stranded without their backpack - no supplies, no friends, no idea where to go to get them back. At least they had the sword, each other, and a glimmer of hope.

Life could thrive here. So could they.

 

* * *

 

Lars opened his eyes to find himself on his back, staring up at the strangest canopy he’d ever seen. Beyond it, a sky of yellow and green hue that Earth could never have quite pulled off. Confusion and pain reigned in his head as he frowned up at the scene.

Wasn’t he just in a spaceship?

He realized there was an uncomfortable feeling where he was lying and soon found he was spread out on some rocky protrusions. He carefully pulled himself up into a sitting position to see trees, weird plants and scattered debris all around him. He belatedly realized his head was extremely sore and raised a hand to rub it as he glanced around. Down in between two rocks next to him, his eyes fell upon a purple gemstone, hexagonal cut. He gawked at it a moment before picking it up. A vivid image of Zee holding onto him as the ship started breaking apart came screaming back.

“Zee,” he breathed. “Aw, man..”

He’d been in space long enough to have seen gems poof before, so he knew what the deal was. He turned her stone over in his hands to make sure it wasn’t cracked or damaged and sighed in relief when he could see nothing out of place with it. She’d poofed, for whatever reason - that was all.

Probably because of the fall. It clicked into place in his head why he hadn’t just been skewered on these rocks.

“Did you, like, just.. _save_ me, dude?” he asked the inactive gem. As he glanced around at the damage her impact had caused to the ground, it dawned on him that she might have.

It didn’t reply. _Of course it wouldn’t_ , he told himself as he hauled himself to his feet, gemstone in hand, and took a few steps forward to stomp out a fire with his boots. Suddenly, another thing came back to him and he forgot about the fire, which was pretty much out by now anyway, and whipped back around.

“Padparadscha!?” he called out into the dense jungle. “Hey! PADPARADSCHA?!”

Nothing. He raised his chin to the alien treetops and cupped his hands to his mouth.

“STEVONNIE!?”

He waited. Still nothing. He stared at the broken planet in the sky above him for a long moment before trying again.

“HEY!? CRAZY SPACE WITCHES!?!”

He swallowed as he noticed a bush rustling nearby. These lonely woods suddenly began to seem threatening. “A-anyone..? Guys?” he asked his surroundings, quieter this time as he pulled his destabilizer from his forehead - the only weapon he had.

Deciding he was better off not continuing to make noise, he piped down. At a loss of what else to do, he picked a direction and struck out in it cautiously, Zee’s gemstone held tight in one hand.

“C’mon buddy,” he said to her, swallowing his fear.

 

* * *

 

“Lapis,” Peridot muttered to the universe from a hunched position in a clearing, free from trees. She was staring up at the sky plaintively. There were rocks all around her - the same rocks she’d managed to pick herself up from, how long ago now? She had no idea. At least half a cycle had passed, but time was meaningless to somebody drenched in sadness.

There were still tears coming out of one eye - the other was tearless and inverted, with green sclera and white iris. Every now and then, her entire form glitched out.

She couldn’t see it, there was no way to, but she knew it with horrific certainty - her gemstone had been cracked in the fall.

But despite that, she was still active and functioning. Mostly. For the meantime, she was begging the cosmos for something that, any other day, she’d have known it couldn’t just _give_ her.

“If you’re out there, Lapis,” she continued to call out in a hollow voice to the sky, “Now would be the perfect time.. You know, to swoop on in-”

Approaching footsteps in the undergrowth alerted her to the presence of another. She spun around to find.. a tall-ish, slender blue gem.

If gems had hearts, Peridot’s would have skipped a beat.

But she quickly realized that this was only a stranger - a random blue gem, just stumbling around through this planet’s undergrowth. Peridot’s countenance went from looking hopeful to angry in a few seconds flat.

“Aah! Who are YOU?” she cried suddenly, making the unknown gem jump and turn to stare at her as she continued. “You’re not _Lapis!”_ Peridot’s very form shook from the intensity of her anger.

The unknown gem appeared frantic at the sight of the tiny, angry and glitching Peridot. She quivered. “Aah! W-who are _you?!_ Where am I!? I was.. I was just on Homeworld! But some strange gems, they-”

Peridot rose to her feet, unable to help but glare angrily at this unwanted newcomer. “We were ALL just on Homeworld, you.. CLOD. Now BE quiet, and either BE LAPIS or GET OUTTA HERE.”

“I’m not a lapis lazuli, you lowly _Peridot!_ I am Blue Apatite,” the stranger began pompously, but she also had her hands clasped pleadingly out toward Peridot. “Please, tell me where the nearest base is. I need to file an urgent report.”

Peridot gasped. “You were the gem in the bubble back in the ship!”

At this, Blue Apatite yelped in fright and fell backward. “Y-you’re one of them!”

“Of COURSE I am!” Peridot squealed, waving her arms around emphatically. “You don’t get to be cracked, glitching and crying on some weird leafy planet with ship debris sticking out of your gravity connectors by leading a perfect, diamond-fearing existence, do you!?”

The blue gem looked an odd mixture of concerned and confused at this outburst. She hesitated before asking, “Then _why_ don’t you?”

“Because..” Peridot waved her arms around. “The Earth, of course!”

Blue Apatite was confused. “The.. _Earth!?_ ”

“Wait, no, forget that,” said Peridot, glitching again and beginning to panic. “I’ve - erk - I’ve said too much. I’m under orders never to speak to important or fancy-looking gems, you see-”

While Peridot had been speaking and glitching, Blue Apatite’s shock had given away to a sly smile as she finally grew confident enough to cast around for something that she could use as a weapon against the smaller green gem. She picked up a jagged piece of spaceship out of a nearby pile of rubble and began walking toward Peridot, who gasped the moment she saw the advancing gem’s intent.

Suddenly, Blue Apatite screamed in shock as yellow streaks spread out through her form, and she exploded into a puff.

Peridot blinked to see Lars emerge from the haze - in one hand, his destabilizer. In the other, a gemstone. “Yo, Peridot. Did you get sick of her talking too?”

“..It’s _you._ ”

Peridot eyed him as he put the weapon back in his forehead, picked up the blue gemstone and and held it out to her. “You wanna bubble this?”

He blinked in surprise as she looked up at him and he noticed her glitching for the first time - how wild her eye looked. He inhaled sharply through his teeth. “What happened to you?”

“My gem is cracked, okay!?” she seethed. “I don’t even know if I _can_ bubble anymore!”

“Well, uh..”

“Why don’t you try? You’ve got some kind of gemlike-thing going on these days,” she suggested, eying him uncertainly.

He frowned and placed the purple gemstone down on a soft bit of grass for the moment, then held the blue gem in both hands for a long moment, while staring at it in the manner he’d seen gems do on a couple of different occasions now.

Ultimately, though, the only thing he achieved was a burst blood vessel and a nosebleed.

“Ow,” he winced, giving up, wiping deep pink blood from his lip with his forearm. He soon offered the gem to Peridot. “Uh.. can you try? How else are we gonna stop her from reforming?”

She glared at the gem in her hands, and a few moments later, a green bubble struggled its way into being. It was accompanied by a sudden glitch in Peridot’s form. She waved it up to Lars with an expression of sulky boredom.

Lars was surprised to find that he could manipulate the movements of the bubble with his hands - the same way he’d seen gems do it - and was able to put it in his forehead. With that annoyance dealt with, he turned his attention to her. “Dang, Peridot.. you really are cracked. That sucks.”

“So!?” she spat. “What are you gunna do? Run away!? What makes you think I’d wanna kick it with you, anyway?”

Lars’ face betrayed only a slight hurt at this assessment of his character. “Okay.. fair, maybe? But just so you know, I’m not trying to have that be my thing anymore.”

She suddenly looked up at him with eyebrows raised. “Wait. You got your powers from Steven, right? I know it’s a longshot since you can’t bubble, but maybe you can-” she motioned up at her gemstone and Lars understood.

“Uh, oh! Sure, I’ll try, but.. do I need to cry?”

“Lazuli told me Steven’s saliva was sufficient to fix her when she was cracked,” said Peridot unhappily.

Lars screwed up his face. “Eugh.”

“Just do it already!” She glitched momentarily before flicking up her visor to expose her gem and closing her eyes expectantly. Lars quickly licked the palm of his hand, and pushed it awkwardly against Peridot’s gem.

After a few moments of this, he took his hand away and frowned. Peridot opened her eyes, and glitched again.

“Sorry,” Lars said. He pulled a face at the sight of some of his saliva dripping down her gemstone onto her face and pulled a towel from his forehead, offering it to her. “Should I, uh, try to.. cry?”

“If you want to cry, do it on your own time.” Peridot muttered as she accepted the towel and wiped her face with it. She handed the towel back shortly for him to stow away. He narrowed her eyes at her before pulling a roll of clear plastic tape out of his head. At one point it just seemed like his parents were sending him whatever random crap they found lying around the house, ‘just in case’-style. This was the first time he’d found any of it useful.

Moments later, Peridot had strips of tape holding her cracked gem together.

“This.. solution isn’t viable in the long term,” she said, voice croaking from the shame of it all as she flicked her visor back down. “But wow, thanks..”

Lars smirked and shoved the tape dispenser back into his head as he sat back onto his knees in front of her. “So.. that’s fine. All it means is, we need to find everyone faster. Which is good! Good incentive..” he glanced around and saw a small pile of debris.

“Oh!” he cried as he jumped to his feet and rushed over to it, full of good ideas today. He rummaged around and shortly pulled a slab of metal no normal human would have been able to lift - perhaps something that used to be part of the floor of the Roaming Eye - and dumped it down in front of Peridot victoriously.

“What?” she asked, miserably glancing from the piece of metallic trash, all the way up to the pink trash smiling down at her as though he’d just discovered all the secrets of the universe.

Lars was brimming with excitement as he explained. “If you do your cool metal magic thing on this, we can fly around on it and find everyone!”

Peridot just wanted to be sad, but there was an infectious quality to his energy that inspired her to extend a glitching arm out towards the metal dealie. As she furrowed her brow from the effort, she started glitching harder and harder. It soon became apparent that she was wasting all that effort - their would-be magic carpet just wasn’t budging.

“Uh, maybe stop?!” called Lars, worried for her.

“I’m.. _really cracked,”_ she sighed to herself as her form stabilized once she ceased her efforts. “But I’m so.. new! It’s so unfair.”

“Hey, it’s.. okay! We can walk and find everyone instead. You can walk, right?”

She gingerly got up onto her feet and stomped around a little, glitching the whole time. “..I can walk.”

“I guess I can carry you?”

“Hmm. No. You don’t seem like you’d be as smooth a ride as the big Amethyst.”

“I mean, Zee’s kind of poofed right now so good luck hooking that up.” Lars indicated the gemstone he had rested on a soft patch of what he was able to think of as grass earlier.

“I’ll walk,” she said.

 

* * *

 

In a different part of the region, Garnet was still holding Padparadscha under one arm, as she had for most of their descent from the upper atmosphere, as she stomped out whatever fires she could from fallen spaceship rubble, her face a frown. Padparadscha allowed herself to be held by this quiet stranger without complaint, only speaking up in order to mention something obvious.

“I predict the fires won’t be so hard to put out,” she said.

Garnet smiled as her obligation to the local environment was fulfilled. “Correct, I predict, as usual.”

She figured their current location was for the most part safe, for now, and lowered the much smaller gem to the ground. Padparadscha turned to look up at the fusion. “Also, who are you?” she asked.

“I am Garnet. Our introduction before all this was.. nonexistent, I know. I assume you are Padparadscha.”

“Garnet! Hello! Yes! It is very.. strange to meet you.”

“An orange sapphire,” Garnet said, impressed. “How rare. I’ve been told a great deal about you. I’m so glad you’re finally safe with us-”

She suddenly summoned a gauntlet and swung her arm around to strike a creature mid-air that, until that moment, had been stalking them. The creature, resembling a big bug, dropped to the ground, yelped, and hobbled away back into the bushes.

“It’ll be just fine,” Garnet assured her.

Padparadscha watched the creature disappear. “I actually question just how safe we are.”

Garnet nodded once. “I would, too.”

“I predict you’ll be very strong, though. And that you’ll be able to protect us both from danger! Garnet? Do you know.. where Captain Lars is?”

“Don’t worry. We’ll find all our friends, together.”

“You’ll have to carry me,” the much smaller gem admitted, seeming a little ashamed. “I.. I can’t be trusted-” she hid her face in her hands. “I wasn’t quick enough a-and I got all the friends I ever had _poofed_ -”

Garnet cut her off. “Padparadscha. I am willing to trust you. Don't worry,” she swept an arm, encouraging her to walk along beside her. “I will protect you.”

 

* * *

 

Stevonnie had nothing but a sword, their wits, and the clothes on their back which continued to make them look like some fancy, exotic gem. They would rather have not had all this superfluous material attached to their body, but in lieu of their backpack or the head of their friend, they had no choice but to deal. They didn’t simply want to discard the costume that some thoughtful craftsgem had worked so hard on.

At least they had boots on - boots which made it easier to stomp out whatever fires they came across.

So, they stumbled through the undergrowth hindered by it all, with the goal in mind of.. what, exactly? Find the others? _How!?_ They had no idea.

In spite of that obviously being urgent, another goal gradually took priority. _Food._

Something in a tree nearby caught their eye - a big purple thing.

“It could be fruit!” they suddenly exclaimed.

Soon, sword strapped to back, they were hauling themself up the treestalk. Soon, having wrenched the fruit free from the canopy, they leapt and floated back down to the ground.

Only to be walked into by something.

Dropping the fruit, they spun around, sword at the ready - only to see Captain Skinny Jasper standing there with her own sword, in a pose mirroring their own.

Simultaneously, Stevonnie dropped their sword and Skinny’s weapon disappeared, and the two of them rushed into a hug.

“Captain! I’m so glad-”

“Stevonnie! It’s so good to-”

They laughed and pulled away.

“Oh I hope everyone else is in as good as shape as we are,” said Skinny. Then, with a touch of hope in her voice, she added; “You.. don’t happen to have everyone else with you, huh?”

“No,” replied Stevonnie, picking up their sword again to sheathe it, as well as the fruit, wiping the dirt from it as they spoke. “Guess you and me are teaming up to find everyone and get off this crazy planet, huh?”

“I was making for that hill,” Skinny pointed, wearing an expression of determination. “We should be able to spot anything or anyone nearby from the top of it.”

An indeterminate amount of time later, Skinny and Stevonnie were scanning the surrounding region from the top of the hill. Instead of the ass-saving excursion Skinny had cracked it up to be, both gem and fusion found themselves glaring down out across the sweeping landscape with disappointment at unearthly pink and blue-green treetops, and brown-red hollow stone balls.

“So much for this idea,” said Skinny, in a mood.

Stevonnie yawned suddenly, causing the other to regard them in concern. She held out an arm towards them.

“Right, I know that sign. Your diurnal wind-down period is upon you. Funny how it seems to sync with this place’s evening period.”

“That or I’m tired,” said Stevonnie in a sarcastic way. “I’m sorry. I’m going to have to stop soon so I can sleep.”

In the fading light, Skinny looked as though she wanted to press on, but was distracted by a drop of water from the sky hitting her in the face. “Huh?”

All of a sudden, a flash of lightning rent the sky, accompanied seconds later by thunder. All this, as well as rain. Skinny wrinkled her sense sponge in distaste. “Ugh. I remember this stuff from Earth.”

Shortly, they were shielded from the rain in a nearby geological phenomenon Stevonnie supposed was native to this place - a huge round hollow stone ball with holes all over, sticking half out of the ground. They stood inside it awkwardly as Stevonnie looked around. Rain of course hit the floor in spots corresponding to the holes it entered through and the angle of the rain. Finally, they shrugged. “Roomy.”

“It’s just as well we’re stopped for the night,” said Skinny as she sat down in one of the more dry spots. “See, I had the idea to use the abandoned colony this moon is tidally locked to as a landmark, but in the sky. Now that it’s dark and with all the clouds everywhere, we’d just get lost.”

Stevonnie shook their head in surprise. “Waitwaitwait. That’s an abandoned colony in the sky up there?!”

Skinny smiled as though it was the dumbest question she’d ever heard. “Of course it is. It’s got the classic signs of gem invasion. The cracks in the crust, the hollowed out.. ness. I’ve never seen one like this before, but I’ve read a few articles about it.”

“Wow. What do you think happened here?”

“No idea, but if we’re lucky, the Diamond Base will be somewhere here. I mean, it’s definitely on this side of the moon, since we’re facing the colony, of course. But.. where.”

“Hmmm,” considered Stevonnie as they picked out a dry spot against the wall of the cave-thing. “Maybe I saw a building or something, near the horizon? Aw, but it’s dark. We’ll have to check in the morning.”

Skinny sighed. “So be it.”

A few moments of silence passed.

“Hey, so.. Captain?”

Skinny jumped violently. “Aah! I thought you fell asleep!”

Stevonnie laughed. “You think I’d just fall asleep on you without saying ‘good night’ first? I’m not rude.”

“Well.. I don’t know how long it takes. What were you going to ask?”

Stevonnie hesitated slightly. “Well. You know how.. you used to serve Pink Diamond?”

The question caught Skinny a little off-guard. “Uh, sure?”

“And how.. Rose Mom shattered her?”

“..Rose Quartz? Of course!”

Stevonnie interlocked their fingers together in an expression of nervousness as they asked the question. “I was wondering if you were there to.. see it happen.”

Skinny laughed. “Oh! Oh, of course not. I wasn’t well-formed enough to be member of Pink Diamond’s exclusive personal guard.”

“Damn,” said Stevonnie. “Oh, I mean-”

“Don’t worry about it. Secretly, I like swearing, too. I haven’t said the F-word yet. Lars thinks I’m ready, but I’m not so sure. I know it’s coming, though. I can feel it.”

Stevonnie smiled up at the funny, funny quartz.

“Regardless, if you’re wanting to know what happened, I can help you track down a few of my crew who were there as part of the guard. If we get back. It apparently happened really quickly, though.” She glanced to the side as she continued, “Evidently, it was so fast that nobody - not in the guard, none of her attendants.. her sapphires, her pearl - nobody saw it coming.”

Stevonnie sunk at the shoulders - this secondhand account, not dissimilar in any way to the hypothetical given during the trial, did not bode well. But they were still enthusiastic about knowing all they could. “Yes, please. That would be amazing. Thank you.”

“Of course,” said Skinny as she leaned back onto the ground. “Anything for you.”

It was kind of an odd thing to say, and it sat weirdly with Stevonnie. They glanced back at the quartz, puzzled. “What do you mean by that?”

“Hmm?”

“You said ‘anything for you’, to me just now. What-”

“Well, you’re important. That’s all. And if you or your friends want something, I’m willing to do everything I can to provide it.”

“Why?” Stevonnie asked, confused.

“You and the other Crystal Gems have given us purpose. That’s.. something we haven’t really had in a long time.”

“But, wait,” Stevonnie smiled. “You’ve got the humans at the zoo..”

Skinny spun around, her dignity slightly wounded by their attempt to make her feel better. “They _don’t_ need us. Or they shouldn’t, at least. The fact that they’re so dependent on us is a joke at their expense. And ours! The sooner we get them back on Earth and able to fend for themselves, the better.”

She glanced down at the dirt floor of their little hovel. “Then they can finally be what they were always supposed to be.”

Stevonnie was quite surprised by this, but before they could say anything, Skinny sighed and continued, significantly less passionately this time. “Somecycle.. I mean. When we don’t need them for our flimsy cover.”

“H’yeah,” sighed Stevonnie. “Everything’s happening _someday._ ”

Skinny looked miserable suddenly. Stevonnie frowned and sat back up. “Skinny?”

“..It’s just, the humans. They’re not _supposed_ to be anything, are they? They’re supposed to _choose._ Lars chose to stay with us at the Zoo. You both choose to fuse, to do.. all of this!” She sat back onto her hands, glancing down at the dirt wistfully. “I remember Rose Quartz once tried to explain how that was somehow their beauty, and I.. I didn’t get it back then. I do now.” She rested her cheek on her fist. “The Crystal Gems.. they all _chose._ Then I of course, I start thinking, well, what am -I- without what I’m supposed to do?”

“That’s easy,” smiled Stevonnie, after a moment. “You’re the Captain. You’re not supposed to be, but you are anyway.”

“You have a really dirty face,” Skinny said, suddenly. “I was being polite earlier, but it’s worse now and at this point I feel like I should let you know.”

Stevonnie, confused, raised a hand to touch their face and laughed a moment later. “It’s facial hair! I’ll take care of it in the morning. Are you feeling better?”

“Yeah,” Skinny said. “Go to sleep. I’ll keep watch for trouble.”

“Good night, Skinny.” Stevonnie smiled and closed their eyes.

 

* * *

 

Pearl felt like a babysitter. The two quartzes she’d collected up over the course of the day were incessant, and they weren’t showing any sign of slowing down now that it was night time. _Of course not,_ she reminded herself. _They’re gems._

She never thought she’d really miss being on Earth with humanity, but here she was, in a cruel universe.

“That doesn’t sound quite right, but okay,” said Wy as she and Carnelian got into another tussle. It was all in pure fun, but Pearl was quickly growing tired of it.

“What!?” cried Carnelian as she dodge the attack, sending the amethyst spin-dashing off into a nearby tree, sending fruit plummeting into the ground around them. “What’s wrong with my theory?”

“I mean, Yellow wipes entire worlds of organic life without a second thought. Why do you think the life here drove her away?” came Wy’s reply after she stood up again. She then spent a little time fixing her hair as the two quartzes increased their pace to keep up with Pearl. “The mud planet was way worse than this. Those creatures - the humans and Em called them frogmen? They were way, waaay worse and far more belligerent than anything I’ve seen here.”

It had slipped out, and she realized her mistake as both Pearl and Carnelian turned to face her.

Carnelian closed an eye to think. “ _That_ wasn’t in the report..”

“What are you talking about!?” Pearl’s voice had distinct overtones of alarm.

“Pearl, it was fine, we all just kind of agreed to gloss over the native life we encountered,” Wy shrugged. “We found the shards but we also found out why the colony was abandoned in the first place.” She hesitated. “It was because the organics there were incredibly resilient, big into teamwork, and they’d discovered our weakness.”

“Okay, so we’ll make an amendment to the report when or IF we get back,” said Carnelian after a moment, shrugging. “You should all be court martialed for this.”

“Oh, please, we’re all friends and everyone loves us. We’re _not_ going to be court martialed. I didn’t know you were such a bureaucrat!” laughed Wy.

“I thought you _liked_ bureaucrats,” Carnelian smiled slyly as she playfully pushed her into a tree.

“I like _tall, green_ bureaucrats,” laughed Wy, unhurt.

Pearl immediately turned in order to press onward, her face contorted with anxiety but try as she might, and although it stung, she couldn’t bring herself to fault any of them for the lie of omission.

 

* * *

 

Peridot was walking ahead in the darkness, Lars watching her with increasing worry as her glitches appeared to be growing and becoming more frequent, but he couldn’t be sure if his perception was skewered due to the fact that they were accompanied with bursts of light in the dark. It only made them seem all the worse, somehow. Despite the fact that his legs were much longer than hers, he had to maintain an awkward half-jog to keep pace with her.

“Hey - are you okay?” he asked finally of the proud little gem. “Listen, uh, maybe we should find somewhere to camp. You might need to-”

Peridot muttered bad temperedly as she continued walking. “Gems _don’t_ need _sleep._ We need _light._ And not to be cracked. Just keep walking, we’ll-”

“Peridot, I’m pretty sure gems need to rest sometimes-” he started to mansplain gem things to the gem, but was quickly cut off.

“When we’re out doing stuff in space, I kinda just keep hoping maybe I’ll.. run into her,” she said, out of nowhere, without breaking pace. Without acknowledging his ongoing concern. “Just, y’know, turn a corner at the next star, and bam. _She’s_ there. Despite the universe being so unfathomably vast!”

She stopped walking suddenly, tensed herself and grabbed at her head with both hands, frustrated with herself. “I’m such an.. irrational.. cloddy.. **clod**!”

Lars came to stand beside her awkwardly, wholly unused to cheering people up. “Uhh, dude? What. Noooo.. You’re not a clod..”

Peridot tensed her fingers, staring at them angrily. “I can’t just do nothing. I have to keep moving.. in some direction! Maybe.. forward?”

Mouth hanging open at all these feelings tumbling from the tough little gem, Lars took a small step back.

Peridot grit her teeth. “It just.. doesn’t make sense. Yes, she was afraid, but.. she was my friend and she left me. Lapis.. _abandoned_ me. I should hate her, shouldn’t I!?”

“Uhhhgh-” was all Lars could manage.

“She probably doesn’t even think about me, and yet here I am wondering where she is all the time. I’ve been trying to keep busy, to keep being useful to everyone, building things, doing missions.. Captain Jasper wants me to upgrade the Zoo’s thrusters the moment they source the parts - which I’ll do, as well, of course I will, if we ever get back to the station, but..”

She took a couple of deep breaths as Lars watched, his face as miserable as hers.

“But all the while I’m just MISSING her! Hah! F-for all the world as though I’m missing my own.. arm, or something!” She laughed into her hands. “This.. this can’t be normal, right? What’s wrong with me.”

Lars sunk, her monologue cutting a little too close to home in all the wrong ways. Nonetheless, he made an attempt. “But it.. it _is_ normal to feel that way, isn’t it?”

“Arrrgh!” Peridot started kicking at defenseless alien flora with her gravity connector. “I wish I’d never been assigned by Yellow Diamond to interrogate Lapis in regards to Earth in the first place!”

“But then.. wait. Then you wouldn’t have met Steven and the others, right? You wouldn’t have saved the Earth..” he scratched the back of his neck, grasping. “Yeah it sucks, but.. it’ll get easier?”

Peridot spun around to regard him in the darkness with a little contempt. “Clod Lars, we’re stuck on an alien world that we’re absolutely going to die on.”

“Hah,” laughed Pearl, picking this moment to wander out of the bushes, having overheard the end of their exchange. “What’s new?”

Lars and Peridot both jumped happily. “Pearl!”

Not only Pearl, but she was also accompanied by Carnelian and Wy who followed her out. “Guys!”

The excitement was cut short as the three newcomers recoiled at Peridot’s state.

“Oh, Peridot..” said Pearl with sympathy. “Your gem..”

Peridot could only roll her eyes harder than ever before. “Tell me something I don’t already know, _Pearl._ ”

Pearl frowned at it, leaning in a little closer. “Is that.. scotch tape?”

“It.. seems to be keeping it from getting worse,” Peridot reluctantly admitted.

“Good work,” Pearl stood back, impressed.

“Thanks,” said Lars, a little proud. “That’s how I fixed my car window one time.”

Pearl became less impressed.

Wy considered the two of them with worry. “So.. it’s just been you two?”

“Three. Zee’s here too,” said Lars, showing them Zee’s gemstone. “Rocky landing I guess.”

“Aw, Zee..” said Wy with an odd mournful tone to her voice as she relived him of the gemstone.

“Heh, she’s really hard to poof in Battle Club,” said Carnelian in a joking way. “Good work, Lars!”

“Hey! I didn’t poof her,” he replied, a little outraged at the idea. “She saved me!”

“Don’t worry,” said Pearl in a soothing tone. “We’ll find everyone. And Peridot - Steven will get your gem all fixed up. Now, we spotted what we think is a Diamond Base from the top of the hill we landed on. Judging from the looks of the planet this moon is orbiting, it’s all been abandoned millenia ago. But! There’ll be a communicator inside. And! If the others saw it too, we’re just hoping they’ll have the same thought as us-”

“To make their way towards it!” Carnelian jumped in.

“..Yes. That’s what I was driving at, thank you, Carnelian,” said Pearl, toes aching from having been stepped on.

“Perfect!” said Peridot. “Let’s do it!”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This was so hard to write, a lot of characters running around.. and then I realized I’d lost track of Amethyst.. She’ll show up in the next chapter. ._. Inspiration and dialogue for only like a handful of them, haha.. I procrastinated a lot on it. But it got there in the end and kept up with my schedule, although I thought a couple of times I’d have to skip a week. Did not want!! This thing already has way too many chapters planned out.
> 
> Also I just wanted to say Scrivener has to be one of if not the best program for organizing longwinded stories. Without it, I would have long since gone completely insane. Anyone else use it?
> 
> Also also - Tumblr is a thing I do now, I guess - loveluckylost on Tumblr!


	18. The Base.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Peridoot. _Peridoot._
> 
> Uh, I mean, here - have another chapter of the cast running around doing jungle stuff!

 

**Day Two**

The daystar beat down through the uncanny alien canopy as Stevonnie and Skinny trudged along. It had been another day bumbling about this strange jungle, another day’s trek towards a base they couldn’t quite see just yet.

One or two jumps into the sky revealed that they were heading in the right direction, but a short-lived attack from a small flying creature obviously upset about the intrusion made them abandon that tactic. Once in the distance they had caught sight of a silhouette of a completely unnatural birdlike creature as well - it was huge and flying in a way so odd and unusual that Stevonnie decided their favorite place on this planet was the ground.

So they walked. To help pass the time, they had long since started telling each other stories from their lives.

“He said to each of you that the other would be there?”

“Yeah! Can you believe that?” Stevonnie was still outraged about it.

“Tsk. Desperate.”

“I know! Kevin is the-” Stevonnie paused for a moment. “Well, I _thought_ I hated him, but now I see that I just pity him. And even though what he did was ultimately self-serving, I guess he did help Steven and Connie-”

They went quiet all of a sudden, but the small party continued walking.

When Stevonnie needed food, they climbed the nearest tree. Fruit was abundant here in the dense jungle, but the Connie part of Stevonnie was worried about the amount of fruit they were taking on. Steven was fighting it, but the fusion knew they’d be needing a source of real protein in their diet. Their backpack contained so many things that would have been useful in this exact situation.. but it was all in Lars’ head, and that guy was who-knows-where, they glumly reminded themself.

Skinny hadn’t been around many fusions before, but she had an inkling that when Stevonnie lapsed into silence, it was because they were talking amongst themself. Presently she came to a stop as the fusion held out a hand - they were looking up ahead. There was a small blue creature up ahead, a blobby-looking thing with what looked like two skinny little hook-arms, and a beak.

Stevonnie had a heated discussion between their component parts as Skinny looked on uselessly.

“We have to! But - It’s so cute! We need the protein- There has to be another way!”

A shadow fell over them as the little blob rolled away, back into the undergrowth. The gem and the fusion spun around to see a larger clone of the cute little creature they were attempting to murder, except much angrier. It towered over them, opened its beak, and screamed a wholly beastly scream.

Before either of them could do anything, the thing was attacked from above by a purple blur - it looked to Stevonnie like an otherwise ordinary owl but as it descended, it glowed white and changed its form and delivered to the bird-creature a punch to what could reasonably be thought of as its gut.

It was.. the Purple Puma!

Sunlight glinted of his amazing muscles. Stevonnie punched the air in glee as the bird blob was winded and forced to flee. Amethyst immediately picked herself up off where she’d fallen on the ground.

“Em!” shouted Skinny, ecstatic, running up to her. “You can FLY? How!?”

“Oh,” said Amethyst, her gem aglow as she changed back her regular form. “It’s easy when you’re an owl. I’ll have to show you sometime!”

“Amethyst, you’re so cool!” shouted Stevonnie as they picked her up to hug her. “Where have you been!? Have you seen anyone else!?”

Amethyst hugged back. “Naw, I’ve been looking, though. You’re the only ones I’ve come across. Turns out, planets are huge! And then there’s the fact that it’s covered by jungle.. It’s so good to see you guys! Also, nice beard!”

Stevonnie laughed their dual laugh - Steven’s deep chuckle turning into Connie’s lighter giggle and back again. “Shaving with a sword is dangerous without a mirror,” came their perfectly reasonable response as they ran their fingers through thick stubble.

“I think it looks great on you,” Amethyst hyped.

There was an abrupt disturbance in the undergrowth behind them. For an instant, Stevonnie thought it may have been more of their friends happening upon them. However, upon turning, the three of them were stunned to find a trio of gigantic bird creatures.

Perhaps the one from earlier had gone and grabbed its friends before returning - either way, they instantly turned and ran.

“I.. never asked for this,” Stevonnie panted as they kept pace with the two quartzes.

Finally - up ahead, the Diamond Base. They made a beeline for it. Luckily, the doors were propped slightly open by overgrown roots. The gems and the fusion were able to slip inside, but the gap was much too small for their gigantic pursuers.

They huffed and puffed around the door for a while before seemingly retreating. The would-be prey decided then to check out their new surroundings.

The inside of the base was dark and overgrown with unknown millenia worth of invasive plant life. Skinny’s navel gem lit up and soon so did Amethyst’s. Stevonnie briefly tried to turn their own gem flashlight on, but what they thought might have been one of the more simple abilities possessed by a gem was too difficult, so instead they scoped out the room by the light of the others.

The thing that caught their eye first of all were the murals.

“This is amazing!” said Skinny suddenly, staring up at the portrait of Yellow. “This is one of Yellow’s moon bases! Looks like an old one, too. There’s Blue, and.. oh, Pink-”

The mural of Pink was different from the one of Earth’s Moon, detailing zero controlled colonies. Instead it portrayed her in a seemingly swaying, dancing silhouette. Stevonnie gazed up long at it until Amethyst called over to them. Pointing up at a hole in the ceiling, she was using her other hand to beckon the fusion over.

“Hey, Stevonnie! This place is just like the one on Earth’s moon - there’s an upstairs here, too!”

“Oh, yeah!” said Stevonnie, breaking their gaze at last away from the murals.

Soon, they climbed up onto the top floor, encased by a geodesic dome, and looked out upon the jungle world - the second, destroyed world eternally present and very visible in the sky above them.

Their attention soon turned to the massive chair accompanied by a proportionally massive screen all tangled up in vines which also snaked around the rest of the room. The quartzes and the fusion stared up at it all, awed.

“Woah,” said Skinny, obviously breathtaken. “If you told me a week ago that I’d be standing in a _Diamond Base_ , I would have laughed..”

Amethyst and Stevonnie scrambled their way up onto the chair and pulled the screen in a bit closer. Stevonnie shrugged, and tapped the center of the screen.

The Diamond Authority symbol appeared.

“Huh,” said Amethyst, cocking her head at the thing.

Stevonnie tapped it again, on one of the diamond shapes, and a tone rang out.

“Hm,” they said, scratching their head. “How do we get past- Where’s the desktop?”

“The-?” asked Skinny, wholly unfamiliar with Earth computers.

“You know,” said Amethyst. “How can we do stuff on this thing.”

“Hold on - I mean, this thing predates me by at least a few thousand years. There.. might be a passcode?” came Skinny’s input as she joined them standing on the massive chair to help them contemplate the issue.

 

* * *

 

Wy spotted something in a grassy patch she and her group were moving past and leaped forward to grab it. It was the foot of the appearance modifiers Peridot had been wearing, oddly intact after the fall. She juggled it in her hands alongside Zee’s gem as she half-jogged back over to rejoin her friends who were still trekking along.

“Hey! I found a gravity connector!” she shouted happily. “Maybe we’ll find the rest around here.”

“Ugh,” said Peridot, waving a hand dismissively. “Throw it away.”

“What? No!” shouted Carnelian, running over to grab it out of Wy’s hand. “They’re mine! I need them sometimes.”

“Poor deluded fool,” Peridot muttered sadly, shaking her head.

“What! You used to wear them all the time,” said Pearl. “You made a huge deal about how we threw away your old ones when we were still enemies.”

“Those things did make you seem taller,” added Lars.

Peridot shook her head. “No. Wearing that stuff just reminded me of when I used to serve Yellow Diamond. I’m just not about that life anymore. I have my own thing going on these days. I’m a much more evolved Peridot,” she added, glitching out briefly.

“That reminds me of a burning question I have,” said Wy. Glancing at Pearl, she asked; “Who did you used to belong to?”

Pearl almost tripped as she walked. She hadn’t expected this question coming up at such an odd moment. “What?!”

But Wy was smiling as though she was onto Pearl. “C’mon, Pearl. You can’t have _always_ been a renegade.” She rolled her eyes emphatically. “Why would anyone custom-make a rebellious pearl!? That’s the opposite of what pearls are for. You must have belonged to someone important, like the rest of us.”

Pearl looked uncomfortable, but Wy didn’t seem to see it. “How did you do it? Did Rose Quartz inspire you to run? Did she rescue you?”

“Oh..” came Pearl’s careful reply. The last thing she wanted to do was open up a big box of worms in front of these people. “I.. can’t.. I, ah, don’t like to think about it.”

Wy saw her expression and sighed a little. “Your boss was horrible to you, huh?”

Pearl’s eyes widened and she turned her head away to glare at the ground in front of her as she continued to walk.

Wy nodded in what she thought was understanding. “Well. That’s fair. Sorry. I guess it was kind of a personal question..”

Pearl’s mood affected the entire party though, and they walked for the next while in silence.

 

* * *

 

Later that day as the daystar was beginning to dip lower toward the horizon, Peridot and Lars stood at the crest of a hill. Peridot was pointing at a tall building in the distance, sitting high upon the top of a densely-forested rise off away in the distance.

“There it is!”

“Uh, wait,” he squinted. “Something’s.. moving around in the dome-part.”

“Is it big and either blue or yellow?”

Lars narrowed his eyes further. “No..”

“Then.. maybe it’s someone we know?” Peridot shrugged uncertainly.

It was as good an assumption as any, so Lars braced himself to make a portal. But, before he did, he stopped and looked down at the short gem. “Hey, Peridot?”

“What?”

“I just wanted to say, before we have to deal with whatever horrible thing is going to happen to us next.. you’re cool. You got us off of Homeworld and into hyperspeed with all that stuff going on-”

Peridot glitched briefly as her cheeks went a slightly darker green. “Oh, of course. It was nothing. Peridots are made to operate well under extreme pressure.” She became bossy again suddenly. “Now hurry up and rip the fabric of space a new one - I can hear the others coming.”

“Wait.. listen.” He blushed a deep pink as he continued, “If.. if Lapis is anything like me, she probably _totally_ misses you. She probably thinks about you all the time, but.. maybe she sucks at knowing how to put everything back to normal.”

Peridot found herself staring up at him with big, wide eyes as she took in what he was saying.

“Nothing needs go ‘back to normal’,” Peridot muttered, sinking into herself, frowning. “Normal.. was a mess. A farce. Turns out? _Normal_ didn’t work for either of us.”

Oh the parallels. Lars sunk too. “Yeah..”

“You should get in contact with Sadie,” Peridot said softly, glancing away. “If she’s anything like me, she’ll really appreciate it.”

An awkward moment passed where neither of them really knew what to say next, but they exchanged weary smiles.

Lars quickly braced himself to make a portal but the footsteps crunching into the undergrowth that were approaching from the jungle behind them had an urgency about them that made him hesitate. Peridot glanced back as well and in the fading light of early dusk, the two of them could make out the rest of their party.

They were running, and when they could see what their friends were running _from_ , they jolted in alarm.

Gigantic blobby birdlike creatures were in hot pursuit, roaring and spin dashing at the gems, occasionally screeching loudly and abrasively, obviously desperate to put down these invaders.

“Run!” Pearl was shouting as the two quartzes stopped briefly to try to fight them back a little, Wy holding Zee’s gemstone awkwardly as she did so.

“S-sorry Peridot,” stammered Lars as he picked the injured gem up and joined the rest of them in running desperately.

“Why can’t we fight them!?” shouted Peridot.

“Too many!” came Wy’s frantic reply as she ran.

“They’re living creatures without gems to retreat into,” huffed Pearl, who immediately had to dodge to one side as one of the bird creatures made a jump at her. She pulled a spear from her forehead gem and feigned at it. It fell back and she wasted no time running once more. “We could hurt them! We need to try to lose them before it comes to that!”

They ran in this way for a while.

The group had managed to spread out significantly by the time they reached the bottom of the gully. Lars ran across the top of the stream easily while all the others jumped across. Carnelian was forced to stop as one of the creatures managed to grab her by the hair, and she spun around on it in order to spindash it back. It recoiled, giving her enough time to bolt.

“Haha,” she laughed as she noticed Lars and Peridot had hesitated, watching the encounter. “You think these gemless fools can get the best of Carnelian!?”

Now they were faced with a long uphill slog through jungle before the ultimate goal of their quest.

Even though Lars had made it so far without much issue, the uphill nature of the remainder of the ordeal was starting to wear him down, especially with Peridot slung over his shoulder like a large sack of potatoes. He fell quickly to the back. In the dying light, all he could really see of their friends was Carnelian who, in an ongoing effort to thwart her pursuing bird creature, kept ducking and diving all over the place.

Everyone else had become staggered through different parts of the darkening forest.

He belatedly formed a idea. Yelling and jumping through the resulting portal, he hit the ground running next to Carnelian, who had until just then been about twenty yards away from Lars.

“LARS!” She blinked. “Oh riiight, you can make portals. I like how it’s your go-to!”

“He plays to his strengths,” admitted Peridot.

“Running’s for CHUMPS.” His final word brought a portal into existence up in front of them, and they grabbed each other’s hands before jumping through. They stumbled briefly due to the unevenness of the ground when they landed, but were forced to pick up their feet again to find that they had landed just a little ahead of Garnet, who was in the middle of ducking an attack by an especially fast bird creature.

The three of them did a doubletake at the unexpected fare.

“Garnet!?” squealed Peridot. “What are YOU doing here!?”

“Running from blobs,” came Garnet’s cool reply as Padparadscha, in her arms, reached out to wave at Lars.

“Captain!” the little orange gem called out. “I met Garnet! She’s an amazing fusion!”

This elicted harried but relieved laughter from Lars as he struggled to keep pace. Once he caught both his breath as well as sight of his next target, he brought forth another portal and just like that, they all narrowly avoided having to fight back some bird creatures once again.

The growing group of portaljumpers hit the ground running next to Wy, who wasn’t yet aware that this was a thing that had been going on. She glanced over at them and almost tripped. “STARS. You scared me!”

“We’re doing portals again!” Carnelian yelled happily, and Lars barked yet another into being.

Landing a little behind Pearl, they saw that she had her spear out and was fending off one of the creatures. Garnet had been prepared, though - on her hand that wasn’t preoccupied with Padparadscha, she summoned a gauntlet and spun around to neatly punch the creature in the guts. It promptly fell back, winded but otherwise unscathed.

“Garnet!” Pearl cried happily. “You’re here!”

“Pearl,” Garnet nodded, but this was not the time to stop and hug. The rest of the creatures that they’d left behind were still in pursuit, but a lot further back now than they had been.

“Is that everyone?!” asked Wy, making sure Zee’s gemstone was still safe in her fist.

It’s hard to take a headcount while moving quickly in the darkness, but they managed it.

“We’re still missing Stevonnie, Skinny and Amethyst,” shouted Pearl.

“Don’t worry about that,” said Garnet with certainty. “Right now, we need to make the top of this rise.”

Lars was gasping by now. “SURE,” he shouted. Another portal appeared, into which everyone present leapt.

They exited to the top of the hill, which was quite a distance away, still running. Suddenly Lars offered Peridot to Wy. She took her a second before he staggered to a stop, gasping.

The rest of the runners soon ground to a halt - ahead of them, the massive Diamond Base loomed large.

 

* * *

 

Skinny and Amethyst found themselves witness to the unexpected sight of the rest of their friends spilling out from a portal over the floor below the chair they were still standing on. Skinny blinked, confused, but Amethyst perked right up.

“Guys! Wow, you made it!” she took a quick headcount. “You’re all _here!_ ”

She threw herself down from the giant chair and ran over to hug everyone.

Carnelian hugged tightly back. “Em! We were chased by gigantic-”

“Bird blog things!?” asked Amethyst.

Wy gasped. “How did you know!”

Pearl glanced around, distressed. “Where’s Steven? Where’s Connie!?”

Amethyst leaned over to yell at her. “Pearl, relax! Stevonnie’s asleep downstairs. Don’t wake them, they’re exhausted.”

Peridot frowned, “Well, I guess my crack can wait a few hours-”

Amethyst blinked as she noticed everything that was wrong with the green gem and broke away from the hug. “Awww, Peri! I didn’t know - Listen, I’ll go get them right now.”

“No, it’s okay,” said Peridot. “It’s not getting any worse.”

“Yeah.. you’re not even talking backwards,” shrugged Amethyst. “You’re probably fine.”

“Peridot, Pearl - you two are smart,” said Skinny, waving them over. “Come help with this!”

“Oh, a problem!?” Peridot was eager. She ran over to the chair and attempted to jump up, but couldn’t quite reach. Pearl walked over, grabbed her, and easily sprang up to land delicately on the seat of the chair next to Skinny before putting her back down on her feet, smiling smugly.

Peridot seemed unimpressed. “Meh. I give it a four.”

Pearl lost the smile. She couldn’t believe it. “A four!?”

“Yeah. Out of twelve,” shrugged Peridot, glitching, before turning to glance up at the screen. “Captain Jasper - give me a boost so I can reach.”

“Can we hack it?” asked Pearl as Skinny obliged, placing Peridot on the top of her head.

The occasionally-glitching green gem glanced from her new lofty height atop the quartz down at Pearl briefly. “Pink Diamond didn’t have a passcode on _hers_ , but Yellow Diamond was never so foolish.” She turned to frown back up at the screen.

Pearl, the unexpected gut punch sending her reeling, fell silent.

“There are only four tones,” observed Skinny. “Surely-”

“This is diamond-level security. It’s a code of unknown length. While there are merely four tones, there are also uncountable possibilities..”

Pearl excused herself and jumped back down from the chair.

Meanwhile, Garnet had placed Padparadscha down onto her own feet and stood at the edge of the dome, looking out over the jungle in darkness. The bird creatures had not crested the rise - it was likely they’d been whipped into a confusion by their disappearing quarry further down the hill, out of sight of the tower. She picked the odds at about 20/80 that they’d come sniffing around the base eventually to cause trouble, but not during the remainder of this night.

Nearby her, Lars soon recovered from the insane amount of portals he’d created in such a short space of time and glanced down at Padparadscha, who had been standing with him the whole time. “Hey! Padparad- A-are you okay!? I saw you met Garnet. Sorry about the ship and all the terror and the-”

“Captain Lars,” she smiled up at him. “Calm down. I’ve never had a more exciting experience in my life. It beats being stuck in a mirror. I’m having fun.”

“Oh!” he looked relieved. “That’s.. good! B-because on Earth it’s, uh, kinda like this. But not really. I mean, it’s full of trees and stuff but then the animals are usually pretty okay-”

Garnet had wandered over to join the two of them and sat cross-legged on the ground, shrugging. “Meh. Depends where you are.”

A bright white light briefly filled the room, and the three of them turned their heads just in time to see Zee reform - the purple gemstone floating out of Wy’s hand as she did.

When she landed, fully formed, she instantly jumped up only to glance around, confused, at all her friends watching her in this strange place. Everyone seemed happy enough to Zee - Skinny waved at her from atop a gigantic chair while Peridot sat on her head at a screen, and Amethyst, Carnelian and Wy rushed up to hug her.

“Haaa.. Hiiii,” she said, deeply confused as she was rushed by her friends. “Weren’t we all just falling from a sky?”

 

* * *

 

Stevonnie rose, spread eagle, asleep, through the fibers of a rug. They rolled over, cuddling into it before some sudden awareness told them that this was unusual. Their eyes flicked open.

They found themselves in the Maheswaran living room, fully furnished with all their familiar furnishings, photos on the wall. There was even a photo of Stevonnie with Doug and Priyanka - Stevonnie squinted at it, confused.

“What? I’m.. home?”

The actual room around them _shuddered_ as a colossal Priyanka rose slowly out of the rug in front of them. Unaware of the fusion on the floor before her, she spoke into her smartphone wearing an expression of profound frustration.

“You were told to be prepared cycles ago. There will be no more excuses. Get it done. And don't expect me to look kindly upon this transgression - Embark at once.”

“Mom?” Stevonnie asked. What was she talking about?

But she didn’t appear to notice them. She instead continued to allow herself to be frustrated by the call. “ _Yes_ I _know_ there's organic life on the surface, it's an invasion!”

“Hey mom!” Stevonnie shouted up at her through cupped hands. “What are you talking about?!”

“You will stick to my orders and you will destroy them!”

“Huh,” Stevonnie muttered quietly to themself. “I hate it when she ignores me.”

They had to jump out of the way as Priyanka walked past them, over towards the door. She was still talking. “No. No. I will not repeat myself.”

Stevonnie, deciding to attempt to grab her attention, jumped on the couch and from there to the coffee table. They then jumped and with a little exertion floated up toward the window ledge, beside the door that Priyanka was standing inside of.

“Hey mom!” They called.

“Hmm. That is simply unacceptable.” Priyanka’s tone took on a dangerous edge. She was clearly losing patience with whoever she was on the line with. “Well you'll have to _remember,_ won't you?”

Growing ever more annoyed by their mother’s refusal to acknoledge them, Stevonnie jumped from the window ledge. Landing on Priyanka’s coat, they proceeded to climb up onto her shoulder.

But the doctor was still heavily invested in the phonecall. “The dullness of this exchange tires me. Just land the dropships and do your pathetic job for once! Or.. I'll shatter you and your crew myself.”

Stevonnie pushed the hand holding the cellphone away from their mother’s face, and shouted directly into her ear. “Hey mom! What’re you doing?!”

Priyanka opened her eyes. Her yellow irises and diamond-shaped pupils finally landed on Stevonnie, who quailed. They hadn’t thought this far ahead.

“Honey, please,” said Priyanka, plucking them off her shoulder by the back of their important gem costume. “Give me a moment.”

Priyanka then set Stevonnie down onto the floor of the Maheswaran living room, except it was no such thing any longer. Instead, the fusion stood on the cold stone floor of the Diamond Base.

Priyanka was no longer Priyanka - no longer Connie’s mother. Instead, her visage was a strange mix of both her and Yellow Diamond as she sat down on her chair, gesturing toward a floating panel which moved into place closer to her.

“Huh?” Stevonnie grunted in a brief moment of awareness, before turning to see the Earth from within a geodesic dome, high above the moonscape, the ruined planet looming large in the sky as and ships whiz past, heading up towards it. Stevonnie was unable to help themself. They squealed excitedly, psyched about what they were seeing.

“Whoa, cool! Yelloooow!” They leaped up onto Yellow Diamond’s chair, shouting in a manner they _knew_ Yellow Diamond would find obnoxious, but any sort of attention will do when one is starved for it.

“Hey Yellow!

They were correct. Yellow started in her chair. “Oh,” she said, incredibly disinterested. “You're still here.”

Stevonnie ignored her attitude, instead smiling mischievously up at her. “What are you doing?

“I'm commanding the dropships to colonize this planet,” came the terse response as Yellow tried to fob her off, but Stevonnie wasn’t having any of it.

Instead, they gasped. “I wanna command a dropship!”

“Well, when you have your _own_ colony, you can command whatever you want.”

“I want a colony!” they yelled.

Yellow Diamond ignored them and instead turned to her screen which came up with the Era One Diamond Authority symbol and tapped a five-tone code in.

Stevonnie caught the first half of the code, but turned back to face the diamond before witnessing the rest of it. “I want one now!”

Up upon the screen appeared an image of a dropship. Stevonnie glanced at it quickly before turning back to Yellow.

“What's this?”

Yellow Diamond’s tone betrayed her lack of patience for all the questions. “I'm contacting the leader of the fleet.”

Stevonnie gasped. “Let me do it,” they said as they began gleefully pressing random buttons on the screen only to yelp in surprise as Yellow became enraged and grabbed them by the arm, pulling them away from the screen.

“Don't touch that!” the Diamond shouted, teeth bared, fury plain on her features as she regarded Stevonnie, who clenched their jaw and pulled their hand out of Yellow’s grasp. Their playfulness had left them - they were angry now as well at the injustice of it all.

“Why not?” they asked with all the petulance of a child, voice raised. “You have so many worlds and I don't even have one! It's not fair! I want-” they stomped their foot to punctuate their points as they aired their displeasure, “-ONE! I want my own army! I want my own planet! I deserve it! I'm just as important as _you!_ ”

Yellow Diamond straightened up, eying Stevonnie with a piercing, judgmental look.

“Then _why_ don't you act like it, _Pink?!_ ”

It was one of those shut-down lines - brutal and effective - both an assessment of their character and a challenge. There was no comeback here, and Stevonnie knew it.

They walked away slowly, angrily, wounded in dignity, their arm also still sore from being grabbed so roughly by the much bigger Yellow. Behind them, the Diamond continued to work at her screen. Stevonnie glanced back at her sulkily and looked down at their hand, which they flexed.

They quickly found that they could no longer contain their anger.

Their hand balled up into a shaky fist as Stevonnie felt a rage they couldn’t direct elsewhere. The part of the dome they were facing was as good an object as any to vent their rage out on. They pulled back their arm and smashed it forward, into the glass.

Their reflection in the shattered glass was that of a pink gem, brilliant cut gemstone inverted in her navel, teeth bared, face contorted in rage, furious magenta eyes-

Pink Diamond.

~z~z~z~

 

**Day Three**

Stevonnie shunted awake, beads of sweat dripping from their face. They scrambled up onto their feet. Skinny Jasper wasn’t nearby, but a light shone down from the door in the ceiling leading up to the top floor. Voices drifted down from it, a lot of them. Unsure of what they were going to find up there, they grabbed their sword, and jumped.

Skinny was up on the chair with Peridot - they were both trying different combinations, with no joy whatsoever. Stevonnie gaped at all their friends, but after a moment they decided that no, it wasn’t a dream.

They began to make their way to the chair, the room now feeling unnervingly familiar - too familiar, not just due to its close relation to the building’s counterpart on the Earth’s moon, nor from having been there the evening prior, but something else entirely.

Stevonnie nodded as they passed by Wy and Zee who had run over to greet them. They accepted a protein bar from Lars, who was sitting with Padparadscha and Carnelian and had held it up for them as they traveled past. The fusion smiled and greeted the small group as they moved on.

Pearl and Garnet were speaking together over by the window. Upon seeing the fusion, they both waved and began to approach but Stevonnie climbed up onto the chair, a far more urgent issue on their mind.

They didn’t seem to notice Skinny’s greeting, or that a messed-up looking Peridot was trying to help her with the panel now. They didn’t hear any word of concern from any of their friends as they jumped up onto the massive chair to face the screen.

They tapped in the code they’d learned and it was with an odd mixture of joy and unsureness in their eyes that they saw the panel allow them access. A screen detailing the moon’s local flora and fauna popped up.

Open-mouthed and incredulous, Skinny eventually turned to face Stevonnie. “How.. did-”

Stevonnie looked down from the chair at their friends before reluctantly letting their eyes travel around until they landed on the cracked glass of the dome.

Damage most assuredly done by Pink Diamond’s hand, unfathomably long ago.

 _My.. dream_.. Stevonnie breathed to themself, eyes wide. They shook their head suddenly as if to dismiss out of hand what the implications could be. They turned instead to face their stunned friends. “So how do we contact the Zoo?”

In response, Skinny and Peridot took over at the screen as Stevonnie stepped aside and ripped the packaging off the protein bar at long last.

“Ahh! Peridot!” they almost choked on the bar as they finally noticed. “Your gem! Here, let me..” They smirked. “Is that _tape?_ ”

Amid the celebration going on around her, Pearl alone stared up at Stevonnie from the flooring below the chair, both hands covering her mouth. She wanted beyond want to spill everything.

They can’t have just plucked the code out of nowhere.

It ripped her apart that she couldn’t just..

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> 100k+ words and this thing is now more than twice as long as the postgrad dissertation [I bitched out of/put on hold like 9 years ago/will never finish] was supposed to be. :/ Motivation is an unknowable fickle beast.
> 
> Sorry to turn the dream sequence into prose! There are only a small handful of events in this story that unfold more or less exactly as prescribed in Season Five, and that was one of them. I considered dropping it and taking the last part of the chapter from Stevonnie just waking up from the vision, but even though I didn’t want to make too many changes to it I felt the vision was too important to not give it any treatment within the text. 
> 
> Poor Pearl. She needs a focus. I'm working on it. ;_;
> 
> The idea for the part where everyone’s racing uphill occurred to me during a 20km trail running event I did back in early April. I love running.. but not up hills! Oh how I hate running up hills. I aggressively wanted portal powers during that part.


	19. The Dreamer.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Space never stops.
> 
> But maybe you should.

Bea Jasper turned suddenly in her chair to witness the largest portal she’d ever seen opening up in the middle of the floor behind her. A flash of panic flew across her face and disappeared as quickly as it had come when Lars jumped out with a little orange gem in his arms. She had an inkling that it was his sapphire, but there were other things going on which trumped the pleasant greeting and welcome she would have otherwise given.

“Hi! Stay there!” Lars said as he moved to get out of the way as Captain Skinny and the others who had been away for cycles now landed, hauling something huge in directly from the bridge of the Roaming Eye.

It was a diamond-sized screen, and they managed to stick the landing without spilling the massive panel all over the place. Once he realized there wasn’t going to be any devastation from this risky maneuver, Lars relaxed and put Padparadscha down on her own two feet.

“Thank you, Captain,” she smiled.

Bea was awestruck and dumbfounded all at once. She stood up out of her chair for maybe the first time ever and shortly found her words again. “I-is that what I think it is!?”

“Spoils of not-quite-war from a Diamond Moon Base!” Skinny said proudly, leaving the more-than-capable amethysts to carry it as she stood with her arms akimbo.

Peridot looked around the room, trying to decide what to do with it. “Uh, where should it - hmm. It’s a little bit massive, isn’t it?”

“Oh! Oh! Stick it in front of my chair!” Bea pleaded. “Mine!”

“No space there,” shrugged Zee. “The back wall?”

“I guess so,” shrugged Peridot.

The two big amethysts hauled it over, finding that it could just hang still in the air wherever they put it.

Bea began to walk over to it, but she was stopped by Skinny who was suddenly wearing an expression of concern.

“Jasper Facet-9 Cabochon-6TB,” said Skinny, unable to keep the tension from her voice. “Before we lose you to that thing for the next century or so - what in the stars is THAT thing doing in OUR planetary system!?”

She was motioning toward the viewport as she spoke. A massive pyramid-shaped ship in green and yellow tones was plainly visible, orbiting the gas giant tightly while shooting what appeared to be a continuous laserbeam into its dense atmosphere.

Bea merely turned to to gaze up at it.

“Oh, that?” she replied with an unconcerned shrug. “It’s fine. If we manage to refrain from flailing around, screaming about our many, many crimes, we should be okay. It’s a passing destroyer replenishing their energy stores.”

Skinny looked confused. “Don’t they HAVE light collectors!?”

“Resource crisis,” said Peridot, tsking and shaking her head. “How long have they been here?”

Bea shrugged, doing a good job of appearing unconcerned. “They showed up half a cycle ago. A few of them came over earlier to check out the Zoo out of curiosity, but the humans didn’t really interest them.” She perked up. “In lighter news-”

“Thrusters!?” asked Skinny, interrupting her.

Bea nodded. “Affirmative. Jay, Aitch and Yu went and got them while Gee was picking you up. They’re down in cargo.”

Carnelian folded her arms and looked disappointedly up at the monstrosity they were currently sharing their system with. “Pretty sure someone’s going to notice if we decided to, say, upgrade our thrusters, for instance.”

Peridot stroked her chin thoughtfully. “Yes. We’ll.. need to stay off their space-dar.” She groaned loudly. “This is just _great!_ I was so excited about installing the new thrusters! I.. guess I’ll just fiddle around with the diamond screen until they leave?”

“How long will that take?” asked Lars, concerned for the security of his temporary home especially now that Padparadscha was in the picture.

“Who knows? There were rumblings about needing repairs, too,” shrugged Bea. “This facility and all aboard it are obligated to help any and all imperial ships or personal who come to us in whatever way we can,” she added when she saw his disapproving look. “And we’ll need to play the part if we want to keep our cover.”

“There’s no way we can retreat without the thruster upgrade,” came an ominous warning from Peridot, frowning hard.

Skinny at long last flopped down on the captain’s chair. “Well, you’re relieved of duty, Bea,” she belatedly informed the interim captain.

“Thank the stars,” sighed Bea, glancing at Padparadscha for the first time. “Oh! This must be Lars’ sapphire.”

“Uh. She’s.. her own sapphire,” said Lars.

“Oh!” said Padparadscha, smiling nervously and belatedly. “H-hello, Jasper! I’m.. Padparadscha.”

Bea smiled softly. She was aware of how the Off Color’s escape from the empire was cut short by a group of gems with some jaspers, just like her, mixed in. “Please, Clarity, everyone just calls me Bea.”

“Oh! I predict that you’ll be a very lovely jasper indeed,” she smiled back after a moment.

Bea blushed slightly and glanced back at Skinny and the others. “So.. the mission went well?”

“For all intents and purposes, yes?” Skinny replied, cheek resting on fist as she slouched against the armrest. “Coulda done without extended stay on strange moon of abandoned colony, however.” She had a light in her visionspheres as she continued. “Now! Any noticeable fallout from our act of sabotage?!”

Bea smiled widely. “There was!”

Skinny leaned forward in interest. “Deets?”

“Jade was right-” started Bea.

“She usually is,” came Wy’s immediate interruption.

“-So many resources are being piled into fixing the Facet Six Core, that it’s not funny,” continued Bea. “Half of Homeworld is essentially shut down for now and they’ve even pulled technicians in from the colonies to help - and you must have covered your butts really well because no one’s come asking us any questions. As far as anyone knows, we’re still a bunch of obedient zookeepers quietly serving out their eternal penance.”

Everyone present breathed out sighs of relief and Skinny’s smile widened. “Great!”

“Welp, have fun with the eternal penance thing, guys,” Lars smiled. “I’m gunna go.”

“Where to?” asked Skinny, suspicious.

“Shower at the lake?” Lars replied, confused.

“Denied,” said Skinny. “We’re in Soft Crisis, remember? It could go medium or hard anytime. You, Padparadscha and Peridot need to stay out of sight in case anyone else from the destroyer hops over for any reason. We all need to be on the very tips of our gravity connectors until they go! You can use the quartzes shower.”

But the thought of using the alien ladies shower didn’t appeal to him. “I’ll.. wait for them to leave,” he grumped.

“Just come guard the door with us,” smiled Zee as she and Wy began to move toward the transporter orb’s activation pad. “Remember the fun times we used to have guarding that crazy door?”

“Also denied,” said Skinny, once again. “Way too visible! You’ll be the first thing our imperial destroyer friends see if they come back. Just go ‘hang’ in the quarters.” She frowned. “Huh. We may also have to postpone Battle Club if this goes on too long.”

“Who cares about any of that!” stressed Peridot. She went over to the diamond screen and grinned up at it. “Not even a direct order from Yellow Diamond herself will keep me from busting this thing wide open!”

 

* * *

 

Padparadscha turned out to be a hit with the quartzes. Her belated predictions notwithstanding, they could appreciate that she was just like any one of them, with her own inner life and personality; that she was not merely the sum total of her perceived usefulness.

The nature of life at the zoo meant that quartzes came and went from the quarters at all hours. They went there to relax, talk with their friends, or just to pummel each other in a playful manner.

Othertimes, the quarters just lay empty. It was during a moment like this just after a group of them had left that Padparadscha wandered back over to Lars, who was sitting half-inside one of the lower kindergarten-exit-hole-shaped cubbies - one that he knew wasn’t attributed to any of the quartzes. She attempted to understand what he was doing but the activity he was engaged in was completely new to her.

“Oh! Captain Lars, I have a vision you’ll soon be..” she frowned beneath her bangs. “Scratching markings on an organic product with a.. stick of sharpened graphite?”

Lars blinked and looked over from struggling with writer’s block on a piece of lined refill he had resting in front of him on his thigh. He grew nervous as something sinister occurred to him.

“W-wha! Are there living graphite-gems out there somewhere?” His eyes were wide with horror. “A-are pencils like a hate crime?!”

“What? No, no, don’t worry about it,” said Padparadscha. “I’m just curious - what are you doing?”

He looked visibly relieved for a moment, then gestured for her to jump up and sit beside him, which she did. He explained, “I’m.. writing something. I guess gems don’t use pencil and paper to write stuff. Uh. Remember how I jabbered on sometimes about my, uh, friend Sadie? Back on Earth?”

“Of course, Sadie,” she smiled. “It was funny to me, how obsessed Rhodonite became about her.”

Lars snorted, and they both frowned and glanced away as the memory of their anxious fusion friend cut sharply at them.

In a moment, Padparadscha moved her eyes back to Lars. She spoke quietly. “This is the first time you’ve tried to contact her,” came her latest prediction.

He sighed. “..Kinda.”

“What are you writing?”

“I..” he was suddenly fuming, but only at himself. “-don’t KNOW. Argh! I.. _suck_ at this.” He screwed the paper up and threw it. It bounced off the opposite wall and came to rest on the ground.

He hesitated, frowning. “And you really shouldn’t call me captain. I’m just some horrible jerk. Skinny Jasper is the captain here. I’m just _Lars._ ”

She frowned. “Is that your only name?”

“Huh?”

“You know. I’m.. Padparadscha Sapphire Facet-268 Cut-13IC.. And you’re Lars? Do all humans have such quick names?”

“Oh.” He understood. “It’s really, uh.. Laramie Barriga. I shorten it because-”

She gasped. “Oh! I predict you’ll entrust me with your secret name - Laramie Barriga!” She smiled. “Thank you, Lars. It’s beautiful.”

He blushed, big-time embarrassed, and made a weird snorting sound for a short moment. “..Not as much as Padparadscha.”

Padparadscha made a humble little noise in response, but she was smiling.

Desperate to change the subject, he turned to her. “Padparadscha - you don’t have to stay here. Steven and Connie can take you back to Earth with them whenever you want.”

Padparadscha wore a look of uncertainty under her bangs. “Oh-”

He continued before she could get much else in edgewise. “My parents would be stoked to meet you! You could have my old room from before I moved up to the attic.. Mom turned it into a sewing room that never gets used, but there’s still a guest bed in there if you wanted to try sleeping. Or you could just have my attic if you promise not to go through my drawers or look under the bed. You could also hang with the Crystal Gems - They really like you. You’ll love it. And you could still visit me whenev-”

She sliced the air with her hand, face of determination under her bangs.

“Lars, I’m _not_ leaving you. I don’t know the future as well as other sapphires, but we’re going to get the rest of our friends back, and we’ll all go to Earth together. I can’t see it now, but I will. I chose to believe it will happen. Eventually.”

He wanted to believe her. He lowered his voice, very real right now.

“Haven’t you been through enough?”

But Padparadscha was insistent that she knew what she was doing. There was only one course of action here that made sense to her and she committed to it without question.

“Lars. Don’t you remember? We’re Off Colors.”

Immediately, Lars went cross-eyed as Steven’s head popped out of his hair.

“Ssssteeevennn,” bitched Lars.

“Laaaars! Hi Padparadscha!” came Steven’s cheerful greeting. “I just wanted to make sure you guys got back safe! Sorry we left on the way back - we had to reassure everyone we weren’t dead.”

“Yep,” came Lars’ patient reply. “It’s fine, I get it.”

“Also - is Peridot out there in space? I’ve lost track. Again.”

Lars rested his cheek on his fist to help keep both their heads stable. “Yeah, she’s up in the Bridge-”

“Oh! Hello Steven!” chirped Padparadscha pleasantly.

“You’re in the quartz’s room? What are you doing?” Steven craned his head out of Lars’ hair a little to glance around. “What’s that balled up paper?”

Lars furrowed his brow. “None of your business.”

“Okay, you’re right, it’s a secret,” he patted his friend on the head. “I respect your privacy.”

Lars softened his features. “Thanks buddy. So. Are you coming or going?”

“Do you need me? For anything?”

“I mean, there’s nothing going on.. It’s just business as usual except everyone’s being weird and cagey because some imperial destroyer is currently mining the planet we’re orbiting for go-juice..”

Steven gaped. “Whaaaat. That’s not good! How can I-”

“You can’t help, Steven, but it’s fine.” Lars shrugged. “Peridot’s been whining about not being able to install the new thrusters though, that’s the most irritating thing about it. For me. But at least that new screen is keeping her distracted.”

“So. Everyone’s stressed out and in a jam. I can see the only course of action possible here is..

Lars glanced up at the kid, trying to hold onto his patience. “Is..?”

“A slumber party!”

“A slumber party?!” Lars spluttered. “What fresh hell-”

Padparadscha perked right up. “Oh! How exciting! But what is it?”

Lars sighed when he saw her enthusiasm. “ _Fine._ ”

“Yay! We have to do it properly, though. What’s the time?”

“Dude, I have no frickin’ clue.”

“Okay, well, I’ll be back later with all the necessary equipment.”

Just like that, Steven took a breath and was gone. Lars, able to straighten his neck again, rubbed it gently.

“Guess I’m using the ladies shower then,” he grumbled.

 

* * *

 

Later on, a section of the Battle Room was set up with blankets, fold-up chairs and pillows forming the largest and most ramshackle fortress ever. Chairs were stacked on top of chairs, and some weapon-filled crates had even been hauled across the room for the purpose of making the thing as big as possible.

“This is stupid,” said Peridot as they finally stood back to admire their monstrosity, which had to accommodate all of them but lacked any real planning beforehand. The ambient lighting dimmed to resemble dusk and Lars jogged back over from the control panel.

“Door’s locked too,” Lars shrugged. “In case we get _visitors._ ”

Connie turned a lantern on. Everyone else lit up their gems and eyes (as applicable), and she sighed and rolled her eyes.

“I don’t know about anyone else, but I am cautiously optimistic,” said Padparadscha in a pleasant manner, earning a dour look from Peridot.

“Naaaw, Peridude. C’mon! We’ll have fun!” Amethyst laughed as she clapped her green friend on the back. “Steven puts on _the_ best slumber parties. It’ll be a blast!”

“I still think this is exactly the worst time for this,” Wy said loudly. “But let’s get into it. I’ve seen humans sleep before, but I never-”

Steven raised his arms far too excitedly for a party where the main objective was to send everyone to sleep. “Don’t worry! It’s easy!”

Lars had his arms folded, a look of boredom on his face. “Yeah, all you do is close your eyes and-”

Wy shut her eyes, fully standing.

“Uhh.. Have you really seen someone sleep before, dude?”

“Oh! Lying down. Right.” She nodded enthusiastically and dropped down onto the ground. After a moment, she found herself ambivalent once again. “This _is_ so stupid.”

Peridot rolled her eyes and dropped down to sit cross-legged on a pillow. “Well it’s not our fault you decided to come do this stupid thing. I on the other hand appreciate the effort put into this amazing fortress we built. It’s almost as though we’re not in the middle of a vast chamber used for fighting, in space.”

“ _Why_ did you guys _need_ to bring all these chairs through my head,” complained Lars, not for the first time. “They _hurt_.”

Peridot found that she had something to add, and raised her hand. “Also if those imperials find them here, they’re only going to be suspicious-”

“We can’t build a fort without chairs!” exclaimed Amethyst as she knelt down in a blanket-y corner. She immediately flopped onto her side and lay there resting her head on both her hands.

“I’m just.. not sure what I’m supposed to feel,” said Wy. “I’m about to try something _organics_ need to do. It’s bizarre! I’m a _gem!_ ”

“Then don’t do it? And stop whining while you’re at it?” came a couple of solid suggestions from Zee, already laying back on her blanket with her eyes shut.

Wy waved her arms around - but carefully, so as not to bring the fort walls down around her. “Aw - but no, see, _you’re_ doing it. What if it’s great? I don’t wanna feel left out.”

Connie and Steven, sitting together in the midst of a bunch of blankets, watched all this, chuckling.

A short time later, all of them were lying back, trying to relax while listening to the gentle sounds of Steven’s white noise app. Amethyst buried herself under a pile of blankets and pillows while Peridot lay on the pillow she’d claimed earlier, hands behind her head, staring at the ceiling of their little fortress. Wy and Zee were lying back-to-back trying and failing to refrain from kicking each other while struggling to keep their eyes closed, and Lars was lying on his back letting Padparadscha rest her head on his arm as she lay back too, her hands folded on top of her torso.

They all gave it a decent effort.

 

* * *

 

“It’s never gonna be.. normal, you and me,” said Sadie right before the Earth swallowed her and receded. A sob caught in Lars’ throat as he reached out with an olive-skinned hand, but instead of moving forward he found himself dragged away, dragged interminably away into darkness, first by a huge yellow woman, then ultimately by he himself - a changed pink guy who also carried the burden of his missing crew.

And in the middle of it all, the pink version of Lars caught sight of him and their eyes locked. Everything else faded as Lars frowned in confusion. Everything was still, until Steven jumped in surprise - he’d suddenly realized the true nature of this figure. “Oh! H-hey Lars! Or.. Lars’ subconscious?”

“..What?!” asked Lars as the dream fell to pieces around the both of them. He sat there on his knees in the darkness, glancing around. “Wait.. this is a dream.”

“Uhh.. yeah.”

He looked pointedly at Steven. “But you’re.. you. And, _not_ part of the dream.”

Steven was a little sheepish. “Right again..”

Lars immediately looked pissy. “Sooo.. whaddaya think, Steven? This is the sort of thing I see when I waste away my time with _sleep_ now. I used to look forward to just zonking out every night, but now..” he suddenly stopped and continued in a thoughtful manner. “It’s not just that I don’t need it, but I guess it’s not even worth it.” A pause as he realized something. “..And, _as usual_ , I’m over-thinking everything.”

“Lars, I didn’t mean to intrude- b-but maybe this doesn’t have to be a weird nightmare anymore. You got control of it, now.”

Lars eyed him with suspicion. “Why are you perving at my dream, anyway? I know you weren’t trying to possess me - we have an unspoken gentleman’s agreement about that now, don’t we.”

“Of-of _course_ we do!” Steven agreed earnestly. “This was just, uh, kind of an accident. I.. have empathetic powers and sometimes when I sleep, things.. happen. I didn’t _want_ this to happen - I just have to figure out why I’m here in the dreamscape. It’s usually for a reason.” He scratched his head and shrugged. “Maybe it’s to help.. you?”

The idea was unappealing to Lars.

“Nope! Dude! For the billionth time, you don’t have to-” He looked exasperated as he struggled to explain. “I’m taking responsibility for myself now and I’m not going to let you wrestle that away from me. Okay? So, I dunno.. why don’t you take all that guilt and shit and use all that energy on something else. _Anything else._ ”

Steven couldn’t help but smile. “I guess.. you’re fine, then.”

“As far as _you’re_ concerned, yeah.” But he softened. “Listen. Good luck with whatever it is you’re here for, little dude. But, I’m out. Catch up later.” said Lars, rising to his feet and thus out of sleep.

“..Lars?” called Steven, as everything grew hazy and the scene faded.

 

~z~z~z~

 

“What you’re signing on for is a storm at sea,” said Lapis, grim look on her face, as Peridot stared up at her from the ground. The blue gem was hovering in midair upon wings of water, with the waterbubbled barn in tow. Peridot dropped her jaw, taking a few steps back to watch in abject disbelief as Lapis and everything else she loved disappeared fast up into the night sky.

Tears stung her eyes as she dropped to her knees, staring upward at the hole in front of her where her life should have been. She began sinking into ruined ground that they’d once lovingly tended. Together.

Steven, of course, saw all of this. He ran up to her with concern written all over his features. “Peridot! This is just a dream- Y-you don’t have to feel like this!”

“Huh?” Peridot blinked and turned her head. “Steven?!” She touched a finger to her chin as she lapsed into thought. “Wait. I.. remember now. We all had a ‘slumber party’. This is a ‘dream’. But how are you _here?_ ” Now, she grew comically enraged. “How do these dreams even work, Steven!? Explain it to me!” she demanded.

“Oh, I’m a dream warrior,” he said sheepishly right before something horrible occurred to him. “Oh, no.. I hope not everyone who’s asleep in the pillow fort right now is in terrible agony..”

Peridot stood up easily when she had only moments ago just been sinking into the ground. “I’ve had this one before.. several times, now. I mean, sleep _can_ feel pretty nice and all, but I don’t understand why humans do it. It seems counter-productive to the maintenance of one’s own sanity.”

“Humans, uh, _need_ sleep or they die or go insane or something. The dreaming is just an extra. But hey,” he smiled, “It looks like you have control now! Why don’t you try to do something cool?”

Peridot put an index touchstump to her chin thoughtfully. “Cool, huh?”

A sweet guitar appeared in her arms. She cackled as she swung and arm down and wailed on it. “Is this cool enough, Steven?”

He was gone.

“..Steven?”

After a moment she shrugged to herself and continued wailing on the guitar.

 

~z~z~z~

 

“So if you think you’re tough, give me all your love,” came a plethora of echos in Jade’s voice, as Wy ran down a dark hallway, trying to find her. As the narrow walls began closing in around her she felt like she was mere moments away from dissipating her form but.. all of a sudden, the walls fell away. Completely away, and she found suddenly that she was out in the void of space - deep, unfathomably deep - and sprinkled with the gassy corpses of cold, dead stars.

This situation was equally as terrifying as the closed-in one.

“Wyyyy,” Steven ran up to her, wanting only to help, and as she became aware of him, she realized that her gravity connectors were on solid ground once again. Her eyes then focused on Steven, who was speaking at her. “I had no idea you felt like this.”

“Steven..?” she asked, visibly dubious about the entirety of what she was experiencing. “What.. what is this?”

“This is a dream,” he said, sounding exhausted. “It’s what happens when you’re asleep. Sometimes you can remember them when you’re awake, but other times you can’t.”

“Oookay. I.. don’t think I like sleeping very much,” Wy said, folding her arms and glancing around nervously. “It just.. reminds me of how I feel when I think of how I’d rather just be with.. her. And how _impossible_ that is.” She blinked a tear back. “Look, Steven.. help me. H-how do I go back to the Zoo?”

Steven raised an eyebrow at her. “You.. actually never left.”

“..Whaaat!”

“And, well, not liking sleep - that’s understandable, but don’t let one bad dream your first time put you off!” said Steven, smiling through his sudden exhaustion. “Now that your nightmare is over, maybe you could.. try imagining something better.”

Wy looked doubtful. “Like.. what?”

“Oh! What about training?”

Wy was suddenly incredulous. “I was informed that sleep would be relaxing! Do organics really go to sleep to _train_?”

Steven laughed tiredly. “Good point. Well.. why don’t you try doing something that chills you out, then?”

“I..” she blinked, and smiled. “What about Lars’ tiny music-box? With the ear-things?”

“You.. enjoy listening to Lars’ music?”

“Yeah!”

Steven was unable to understand this development. “Well, you’re.. entitled to your own opinion, I gue-”

He was suddenly pulled down under a fresh new wave of sleep.

 

~z~z~z~

 

“And I’ll give you every little piece of me,” said Connie, the bright sunlight glancing off her glasses lens. She didn’t seem like herself today - it scared Steven, and he himself pushed her back.

She stepped backwards in response, at first with a confused look upon her face. But when she looked down at his hand, still on her shoulder, she grit her teeth and quickly glanced back up to stare him in the face.

As she focused on his face, her jaw dropped.

He was confused, then took back his hand and gaped at it.

It was pink.

He turned his hand over.

Still pink. And slender.

He yelped as he lost contact with the ground through no fault of his own and tumbled up through the ceiling.

At once, he found himself up in Pink Diamond’s room for the second time in his life. He took a couple of strained breaths as he struggled to both stand and understand.

“What am I doing here..” he vocalized to no one, glancing around in trepidation. There was something remarkably different about the room right now from the last time he’d been there.

And all at once, it came to him.

In lieu of the gas giant, the Earth was clearly visible from the windows. His jaw dropped, astounded as he stared at the view of his own planet. It was slightly different to how he remembered it, though - a coastline here, a lake there - nothing major, but certain things seemed slightly.. wrong.

A weight began to bear down upon him - he recognized it just by feel. Guilt. Strong, bitter and so vastly familiar. He felt it between his lungs and, as it sat there, it forced his eyes to drift from the uncomfortable scene in front of him, up to the ceiling of the chamber. Up above the pillows at the top of the platform surrounded by those tall magenta columns.

His face contorted in an onset of sadness. There they were - hundreds of them, littering the ceiling of the expansive room; every single rose quartz left in existence, bubbled and silenced forever.

He felt tears welling in his eyes, a deep sadness rising up in him.

He took a step toward them, then another and as he walked he began to cry, to scream, to wail.

Everything had gradually become out of control - he could feel it everywhere. In his mind, his heart, his bones.. but mostly, his gem.

He cried out, “I’m sorry!” The words coming unbidden from somewhere deep within. “I’m so sorry! But I.. I had to. I had.. to do it _all_ \- all of it.. for you! To help you..”

He fell, prone, to the floor, sobbing breathlessly. “To keep you safe from them.”

A puddle of tears had collected on the floor below him and an errant glance into it revealed an inconsolably sad magenta visionsphere; diamond-shaped pupil clearly visible.

 

~!~!~!~!~!~

 

He woke to a slap in the face.

It was Lars, leaning over him. Connie was also there, sitting next to him. “Steven!” she was saying, “Are you okay!?”

Steven rubbed his face and wasn’t overly surprised to find his cheek wet with tears. “..Oh, yeah, I’m fine. Just a.. weird dream?”

It all came flooding back to him and he frowned. _A really weird not-dream._

“That’s funny,” said Connie, who he now noticed was leaning back against a pillow propped against a crate with a screen resting on her lap. Padparadscha was leaning happily against her.

“Lars was just telling us how he saw you in his nightmare and you helped him,” Connie continued.

Steven wiped his eyes. “Well, thanks for returning the favor,” he tried to smile.

Lars shrugged and muttered something about it not being a problem as he left Steven’s side.

Looking over, Steven saw that Peridot and Wy were still asleep. He lowered his voice. “Did the rest of you not-”

“I don’t know what ‘sleepy’ is to feel it,” shrugged Padparadscha, “Maybe I’ll get it someday.”

Connie smiled sheepishly. “Padparadscha and I were reading. But I was totally going to go to sleep soon.”

“I’m awake too,” Zee said quietly from her position that she hadn’t moved from. “Sleeping.. it’s harder than it looks.”

“..Wait, what?” Lars shot her a look from where he was sitting. “You told me a long time ago that you sleep sometimes.”

“Fine!” Zee admitted. “I was lying, okay? I just.. wanted to impress you?”

He shook his head. “That’s.. _hells_ of weird, Zee.”

Peridot woke suddenly and stretched. “Wow! I sure had the wildest dream. It started off.. pretty normal, but then you were there, Steven, and you encouraged me to just.. will a guitar into existence! Like it was nothing! And I did! And it was awesome! Then you disappeared for whatever reason and I became really good at guitar.” She smiled widely. “I soon began traveling the midwest, collecting up all the ‘beach babes’, which as I understand are coveted for some reason. Ooh, I think I’m gonna play guitar now!”

“There aren’t any beaches in the midwest.. Right?” Connie glanced at Lars, who looked up from his pencil and paper in the light of his glowing eyes only to shrug.

“Do lakes count?” he asked before going back to whatever he was doing.

“Who cares!” cried Peridot, smiling. “Dreams are irrational!”

Steven couldn’t bring himself to join in the laughter and hauled himself at length to his feet and left the fort. Connie noticed and excused herself, passing Padparadscha the screen as she jumped up to and ran over to him.

“Oh! Connie-” Padparadscha called out after her, “I predict Steven’s going to go, but he needs you!”

Outside the fort, she quickly caught up to him. “Hey, are you okay?”

He spoke low as he walked away from the fort, through the darkened Battle Room with no real destination in mind save for _Away_.

“No,” he said, clutching through his shirt at the gem in his navel tightly. “It.. happened again.”

She stared at him blankly for a moment before getting it. “Another vision?! Steven!” She was tense with concern for her friend. “You **need** to tell me what happened!”

Steven pressed his thumbs together as he stopped walking, recalling the vision. “Well.. This place. It used to orbit the Earth, I guess. Likely during the rebellion. In my dream, I was up in Pink Diamond’s room. I saw Earth from the window..”

Wide eyed, Connie watched Steven as he floundered briefly for words.

“It.. It was younger, I guess? Less.. gemmed-up.” He glanced up at her. “Then I was watching the bubbles.”

Connie raised an eyebrow. “And it made you sad?”

Steven blinked hard in surprise. “Uh - Yeah. How did you-”

She put a hand on his shoulder tenderly. “Steven.. You were crying in your sleep.”

“Oh..” He sunk at her touch and shortly shrugged her hand away. “Yeah. It was so.. _heavy?_ Everything.. I felt like it was all my fault. And when I looked down into the puddle of tears, I saw..”

He didn’t have to say it. Their shared vision while they were fused together as Stevonnie on the Jungle Moon came screaming back to her as she realized where this was headed.

“ _Her_ ,” came Connie’s educated guess in whispered tones.

Steven looked up at her and, plaintively, voice cracking, asked; “Connie, why is this happening to me? This is twice, now. And I know it’s all real because the passcode _worked_. I.. I’m starting to feel like.. is my brain broken?” He paused. “Or my gem?”

Connie scratched thoughtfully at the side of her head. “Hmm. This never happened _before_ we found her shards, did it?”

Steven’s eyes widened. “No..”

She looked earnestly at him. “That’s _gotta_ be it, Steven. Maybe having the shards in the tree dimension _means_ she can communicate with you somehow. It’s all connected, right?”

But Steven had a problem with that hypothesis. He touched a hand to his chin and furrowed his brow thoughtfully. “But.. she’s in the bubble, remember? Bismuth was bubbled away in there for a long time - probably since long before I was around - and, nothing. I had no dreams about her, and none about any of the corrupted gems in the basement.” He sighed. “And do I even have to bring up all the trouble I’m having trying to talk with the Cluster? Also bubbled?!”

“Diamonds are.. strong?” Connie suggested, shrugging. “Maybe Pink D can pierce through the bubble.. not physically, of course. We all saw that it was intact when we were on our way here.”

Steven hesitated, weighing up the probability of all this being true. It was so hard to tell, sometimes, when it came to gem stuff. He squinted at her in the low light. “You.. think Pink Diamond is trying to show me something?”

“I don’t know for sure, obviously, but maybe.”

“But.. On the Jungle Moon she was so angry that she didn’t have what she wanted. When she was here at the Zoo.. she was so sad. It was like she was asking the bubbled gems to forgive her. For.. protecting herself?” He frowned. “Even though.. she’s a diamond, and they’re at the top - does that make sense?”

Connie furrowed her brow and tapped her chin thoughtfully with an index finger. “Yeah.. wasn’t the implication that they were bubbled because she thought they were in cahoots with your mom? Or that any one of them could have been moonlighting as the leader of the rebels?”

“Didn’t make her any less sad about it. But I guess Skinny and the others told us that Pink Diamond tolerated defective gems. Maybe..” He sighed, shrugging. “Everyone has layers, I guess. Everyone can feel guilt. Even the infamous Pink Diamond.”

His words hung on the air between them a moment before she glanced over at him again.

“What are you going to do?”

“I.. uh..” he didn’t want to say it, but Connie guessed.

“Why don’t you take some time off all the space stuff?” she asked him, smiling. “We both should! It’s not like there’s anything going on here. Listen, we’ll go back to Earth and just be kids for a little while, okay?”

“That.. actually sounds pretty great, Connie,” Steven smiled uncertainly.

“I know it does,” she smiled back, encouragingly.

 

* * *

 

Later on, after Connie had wandered back to the fort, Lars sidled up and passed Steven a couple of envelopes. “Hey man. I’ll give you these now, in case I forget later.”

Steven had been loath to return, instead preferring to remain standing out in the wide space. He seemed down as he accepted them without looking at who they were addressed to, and Lars surprised himself to feel a sting of displeasure at this unusual lack of nosiness.

Seriously. How _dare_ he.

“Steven,” he said with eyebrow raised - very concerned now. “Are you okay?”

The younger kid looked up at his pink big buddy with a worn expression. “I.. think I’m going to chill on Earth for a bit? Is that okay? I’ll still bring people and your mail back and forth.. but I-”

“-Need some time off?” Lars shrugged, “Why are you asking _me?_ Go for it.”

Steven looked surprised. “Really?”

Lars waved a hand around in a casual manner. “Yeah, dude. It’s not like I’m the boss of you. Don’t even worry about delivering my stuff straight away.”

Steven hesitated, looking up at Lars as though he’d expected some different reaction. “Are you.. sure? Well, how are y-”

“Steven, for the _billion-and-first_ time, I’m fine,” He frowned down at the kid - he saw the tired, baggy eyes, the hair that hadn’t been brushed in a while, the slouching shoulders. It wasn’t _Steven_ who was standing before him right now, and it was high-level irritating and confusing to see him like this.

And pretty sad.

“You wanna worry about yourself for a second?”

Steven looked reluctant, and Lars pulled at his own hair. The kid was begging for his fury, but he tried so hard to give him a break and launched into a harmless rant instead. “Dude! Why is it so hard to just _listen to Lars!_ Have you ever tried to let someone off of a hook they don’t even belong on, but they keep climbing back up onto it!? You even heard it straight from my subconscious earlier. I don’t accept your stupid ‘lingering obligation’.” He swung his arms around toward the smaller guy. “ _Go on!_ Go! Do whatever! Take as long as you need! You know I’m just on the other side of Lion’s mane if you actually need me. And if the Zoo _needs_ you guys, we’ll call.”

Steven watched his rant through weary eyes as Connie picked this moment to waltz on over with all her gear, unnoticed by Lars.

“I find you way cooler as Stevonnie because at least Connie holds me accountable for my actions. You should be _pissed_ I could’ve killed you when I thoughtlessly took you down to that moon just outside, but I’m willing to bet you’ve gone and made that your fault now too somehow, haven’t you?”

“Hey!” said Connie, hurrying to interrupt. “Shut up, Lars!”

Lars merely blinked and stared at Connie for a second before glancing back at Steven. “See!?”

Steven sighed. “Yeah. I guess.”

Lars ignored Connie’s angry face when he immediately turned back to her. “Hey, can I talk to you? In private?”

Connie hadn’t expected that. “Huh? O..kay?”

“Cool. Steven, stay right here.” He turned and walked a ways away with Connie, until he could be reasonably sure they were out of earshot of anyone when they spoke next.

“What’s going on?” she asked, still annoyed. “Why are you hassling Steven?”

Connie was surprised to find Lars acting very real with her all of a sudden, talking in low tones with his arms folded - the polar opposite of the loudly irritable jerk she’d noticed him being moments earlier.

“Listen,” he was saying, “When you guys get home, can you and Amethyst just make sure Steven does like a whole bunch of regular kid stuff for a while? No space junk?”

Connie frowned, unable to understand her feelings at this moment. “I.. uh.. think it’s pretty cute that you seem to be so worried about him?”

“Of course I am! And it’s not _cute!_ Listen,” he paused, studying her. “If he even looks at Lion’s mane, you need to kick his butt about it.” He looked her up and down and shrugged. “He’s stocky and has gem powers, but I bet you could take him down if you needed to.”

Connie couldn’t help but smile now. “I mean, I’ll see what I can do. _Not_ picking a fight with him, but I’m basically two steps ahead of you, buddy.” She suddenly dropped the smile and her voice in order to confide. “I’ve shared a brain with him as Stevonnie - I know everything’s getting on top of him - and then weird visions of Diamonds to boot?”

“Wait wait wait. _What!?_ ”

“Uh.. Yeah, when we were stuck on the Jungle Moon, and.. just now, when he was asleep. Visions of Pink. That’s how Stevonnie knew the passcode..” she blinked. “He didn’t tell you?”

Lars was almost speechless. “No? I thought..” He shook his head. “It wasn’t a lucky guess!?”

Connie furrowed her brow at him. “After Skinny and Peridot had been trying different codes for _hours_? Are you serious! I hear you make bets all the time - do you know nothing about probability?”

“Okay - my lack of matherness isn’t the topic here. Steven is, and he needs a holiday. And we’re in agreement about this, right?”

She sighed. “Of course we are.”

“Good, because I can’t do much about that from here.”

She held her hands out expressively. “Look, I’ll do my best to get him to relax for a while, but.. I’m starting to think maybe he needs to talk to someone, you know? Like, a professional.”

She shrugged and turned away from him as Lars frowned and unfolded his arms.

Connie lowered her voice. “He seems sadder, these days. Tense, maybe. And I get why, I think.. I dunno. I should talk to his dad about it first.”

“Do it,” said Lars, quietly.

After a moment, she turned back to him. He was actually surprised by the concern in her voice when she spoke next. “Besides all of that, are _you_ okay? It must be hard living out here in space. You’ve been away so long-”

“Sure,” came the terse, dismissive response. “But it’s fine.”

 

* * *

 

Steven was still standing alone watching Lars and Connie chat over in the distance. He couldn’t hear anything - just indeterminate mutterings in a dull light, but he didn’t want to move closer in order to eavesdrop. He had too much respect for his friends to do that to them.

It hadn’t stopped him from considering it, though.

Amethyst smiled to herself to see that was so distracted with whatever-it-was - she had the upper hand! She therefore decided to grab his full attention in one magnificent strike by taking a diving leap at him.

“I win!” she celebrated, striking a victorious pose on top of his torso.

“That’s.. great, Amethyst,” came his deadpan reply, downed but unhurt.

She stepped down from him and quickly held out a hand to help him back to his feet. “Steven? Are you okay? I mean, I know you have stuff on your mind-”

He sighed. “It’s just.. the main reason I even came here today was to find out who I could talk to about how my mom shattered Pink Diamond, then I immediately distracted myself and had to get all caught up in whatever this whole thing was-”

He gestured toward the fort. By now, roughly half of it had tumbled down.

“-But barely anyone slept. And the few who did? Were in turmoil! It didn’t help them at all!”

“Hey, hey. That’s not true. By the sounds of it, you helped at least Donuts and P-dizzle gain control,” she gently reminded him.

“Yeah,” he sulked, “But they’ll just go back to remembering how miserable they are later.”

He quailed a little as he suddenly found himself the subject of a good, long period of consideration. Amethyst found him an open book at this moment, and she was reading a story that hit close to home.

“..You’re not doing so well, are you, Steven?” she asked softly.

He sighed and shook his head. He could never lie to the gem he considered the closest thing he had to a sister.

“Okay,” she said, taking charge and putting a hand on his arm. “Listen. I know Connie was packing up all her stuff before, but now it’s super official - We’re shutting this whole thing down, okay? We’re going home and _you’re_ marching straight to bed, mister!” She smiled. “Your real bed.”

He pulled his arm away, his whole face a frown. “No, wait, I came here for a reason. I need to talk with whoever I can find that was in Pink Diamond’s entourage when she was-”

“-Shattered?” asked Wy, glancing over from nearby. She had woken up, finally, and had left the fort to stretch her legs when she overheard them talking. Steven and Amethyst turned to face her.

Wy nodded. “That’s Zee, then. She was there as part of Pink Diamond’s guard.”

“Huh?” said Zee, poking her head out of the fort, her hair a mess. “You guys talking about me?”

“What?” asked Amethyst, surprised by this turn of events. “..ZEE? You _saw_ Pink Diamond get-” she glanced at Steven, who was staring open-mouthed, and let her sentence trail off for his sake. “Is this real?”

“Uh.. Yeah?” Zee quickly stood up - she appeared a little spooked, but Steven had his agenda.

He ran over to her, the others in tow. “But - Why didn’t you say something sooner?! What about when we found her shards?” He grabbed her by her huge hand. “Please, tell me the truth! Nothing makes sense and I have so many questions about how she did it-”

Zee wanted her hand back, and he released it. She used it to scratch the back of her arm, exuding a sudden aura of nervousness. “I mean.. Sure, I get that you’re Rose Quartz’s human son, somehow, and maybe you have questions.. but,” she scrambled to explain herself. “I’ve answered millions of questions _millions_ of times over tens of decades during the inquisition.. I. I don’t like to think about-”

Steven’s eyes were wide - all at once he was hypersensitive to her new state; she was trying to hide it, but she was a wreck. A far cry from the Zee he’d known up until just this second.

His expression matched hers, now. “Zee. I’m.. Sorry, I-”

Zee grit her teeth and found herself immediately comforted by Wy, who placed a hand on her shoulder after having seen her distress.

“It’s okay,” Wy said to her. “These are all your new friends. This isn’t an interrogation. No one’s going to hurt you for what you have to say.” To the others gathered, she explained; “Zee acts all tough, but-”

“What’s going on?” asked Connie as she and Lars returned to the group. Padparadscha and Peridot had also emerged from the fort and were watching quietly from nearby.

Steven had tears in his eyes. “Zee - you don’t have to answer-”

Zee set her jaw and steeled herself. She told herself she could do this. “Stop. Listen. I. I don’t know how it happened. I _saw_ it happen, and I’ve spent so long trying to figure it out, but I have no idea.”

“Was it really Rose Quartz?” asked Steven, hoping beyond hope-

Zee held up a hand. “It.. only makes sense that it must have been one of us - her escort - but we were all accounted for, after it was over. No one _snuck_ past, I think. I.. _know_!” she shrugged. “We were all just doing our jobs, fighting off the rebels, and.. she was there.”

She glanced down at Steven. “ _The_ Rose Quartz. Alone, outside Pink’s own palanquin, and.. with _that_ sword.”

Everyone present glanced down as she pointed at the sword in its scabbard, at Connie’s hip.

Zee shrugged and glanced aside. “From that moment on, it was chaos. And it didn’t stop. Not for a long time.”

“Maybe she - or whoever it was - struck from above?” suggested Steven. Even if it was his mom, even if it _was_ , he found himself still grasping around for anything that would make it all click into place, but Zee shook her head.

“At the beginning, Blue gifted a murder of her most powerful aquamarines to protect Pink from aerial attacks. There’s no way. There was nothing anyone could have done.”

Zee shut her eyes tightly for a moment, replaying the experience in her head. She’d been less than ten hundred years old when she’d been violently poofed and bubbled by her own side and hauled off to Homeworld for interrogation with the rest of her cut, and neither the thousands of years nor the fact that she’d switched sides since had dulled the impact that experience had had on her life.

When she opened them again, she was calm.

“I don’t know how it happened,” she continued in low tones, but loud enough for everyone present to hear. “Me and the rest of the guard - we were all good quartz soldiers. We did our job, and we did it well. But as the war _wore_ on, it showed more and more that there was never any way to account for Rose Quartz. The sapphires could never- No matter what our agates had us do, no matter what Pink Diamond’s orders were - Rose was always, _always_ five steps ahead. More than.”

Her face softened to see him rendered so abjectly miserable by her words. She’d grown fond of the little human - of all these little humans.

But he’d wanted the truth. And the blinding, searing truth of it all was that the enigmatic Rose had been a **force of nature**.

“I’m sorry, Steven,” she said. “I don’t know how it happened.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Longest chapter yet! And I thought I’d try a change to schedule to see if I can get the final five chapters of this current phase out before the movie happens, then I'll probably take a break. :o I’m not sure what days I’ll be posting up until that point.
> 
> They took YD’s ancient screen! I fully expected them to steal it at the end of ‘Jungle Moon’ because it seemed super useful, but they didn’t. I wasn’t mad, just disappointed.
> 
> It’s a talky feelings one this time. There’s a few of those.
> 
> The song ‘Pageant of the Bizarre’ by Zero7 is referenced a lot in this one. I was really feeling the lyrics and they just seemed to fit for all involved.
> 
> I’m on Tumblr - loveluckylost - and I put pics up sometimes. :3
> 
> As always, if there’s anything I can be doing better, I’d love to know!


	20. The Neighborhood.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The worst things we’ll ever say will always be to the people we love.

Rain plonked stiffly onto the rooftop as Sadie watched the dreary scene outside from her livingroom window. She was wearing her bunny slippers and dressing gown, the belt done up and wound into a bow around her waist. The world outside, although day, was dull, stormy and dark in hue. She nodded in solemn approval at the general state of things.

It suited her.

 _I hear the drizzle of the rain, it’s falling from my window-_ she stopped herself as she realized. “Ugh, no, that’s already _a song_ Sadie. Plagiarism, much?”

She moped her way glumly over to the couch and sat down, mug of coffee in her hands, which rested on her lap. She glanced down at it. ‘19 going on 30,’ it said, printed in big bold lettering on the side of the mug. She hadn’t realized that this was the one she’d grabbed - a super hilarious gift from Lars on her last birthday. She turned it around so she couldn’t see the graphic anymore, only to find that it was also printed on the other side as well. She grumpily continued to hold the handle awkwardly with her non-dominant hand, now merely out of principle.

A knock at the door. Sadie groaned loudly, but on the inside she was eager to be distracted. She shortly opened the door to find Steven, wrapped up in a jacket, wearing gumboots. “Saaaadieeee!” he smiled pleasantly. Lion crowded him in the doorway, unhappy about the rain.

Sadie smiled back. Steven’s cheerful little face could usually lift her out of a funk. She moved aside so they could enter. “Hey Steven!” Then, at Lion, petting him as he passed; “Hey big buddy - ew, so wet! Hah. Come in out of the rain you two.”

The boy and the lion entered and Sadie closed the door behind them. Lion shook himself out and went to go sniff at the coffee table.

“Sadie! My dad wanted me to tell you those new amps arrived,” Steven said as he brushed off the additional water Lion had sprayed all over him. “He wants everyone to come test them out when you can. When it’s not raining.”

She perked right up. “Awesome! Oh man, I’ve been looking forward to the new amps. Wait, you didn’t come all the way here in the pouring rain to tell me that when you could have just messaged me, did you?”

“No no no, I wanted to come see you anyway - We haven’t caught up in weeks! And you don’t work at the Big Donut anymore, so it’s like..” he smiled sadly, “It’s like I never see you.”

She smiled back wistfully. “Gem-slash-space stuff, I know,”

“Yeah!” he paused a moment. “It’s been.. pretty wild. I told you we distracted the Diamonds from coming and putting an end to the Earth, didn’t I? But we also exploded an important data-thing on Homeworld, and found Pink Diamond’s shards, and even found one of the Off Colors! Finally!”

“Wow, really?” Sadie was stunned by the news. “That’s.. amazing! You need to tell me everything-”

“I mean, I totally will! I promise! But I..” He looked a little guilty. “I kind of just need some time to decompress, you know? I miss just.. being a human. I’ve been meditating with Garnet, and my dad’s helping me find a therapist, so.. there’s that.”

“Oh, Steven..” she said, but she’d had an inkling for a while now. She nodded, smiling softly at him. “Sure thing, I completely understand. If and when you want to talk to me about anything, I’m all ears. Always.”

Sadie could always make him feel better, too. “Thanks Sadie. How are you doing?”

“Well, right now I’m just.. bored out of my mind! I’ve got band practice tonight after everyone else finishes work, and I’ve been sitting around trying to think of new song lyrics. But it’s getting colder again and the weather’s really bringing out the worst in me, you know?”

Steven perked up a little. “Maybe this will help..” he said slyly as he held something out to her.

An envelope.

She gasped. “Is.. is this from-” she trailed off as she recognized the surprisingly tidy handwriting of the ‘To Sadie’ on the front of it. She grabbed it and quickly ripped it open, but found herself unable to go any further.

Hesitating, she asked, “You.. didn’t _make_ him do this, right?”

Steven looked a little wounded, but it was a fair question. “Sadie - this is all him. I’ve been trying not to bug him about this stuff. I’ve meddled in his life enough. I didn’t think it would take him this long to write you, though.”

With a sudden look of nervousness, she passed the folded note back to Steven.

“Here. You read it out.”

He held the paper awkwardly in his hand and raised an eyebrow, taken aback. “Really?”

Sadie frowned and waved a hand around. “I mean, _obviously_ , if he’s written any swearwords or whatever you can stop, but otherwise..”

“Okay, since you want me to.” But he was jumping over himself to do just that and cleared his throat as he unfolded the small piece of paper. He read it aloud.

 

> Hey Sadie
> 
> Come through sometime if you want.
> 
> From Lars.

 

In the silence that followed, Sadie blinked. Steven screamed. “SADIE. THIS IS GREAT.”

Sadie grabbed the letter from his fingers in order to read it herself. “Is he.. inviting me to go to space?”

“ _Yeah_ he is!”

She seemed doubtful. “This letter seems.. short. And.. reluctant.”

“Sadie! You’re reading too much into it - just take it at face value, like me! Space seems to have mellowed him out.. somewhat. Besides, Lars doesn’t seem like much of a writer.” He shrugged, smiling widely. “But I could be wrong - I didn’t ever think he could be a cape guy either. He sure loves that cape no matter what I think.”

Sadie glanced up at him from having read the letter once again. Her eyes were pools of uncertainty. “..Is it safe?”

“Yeah! I told you - he’s living on the space station for now. Connie’s mom went once, and Connie and I have both been there heaps of times - it’s very easy to live there without needing to be pink or a gem. There’s food, water.. and humans have lived there for thousands of years anyway so yeah, I’d say it’s totally safe! Most of the time! Oh my gosh, I’m so excited. I could take you there right now!” Steven gestured to Lion.

Sadie glanced over. The huge pink counterpart of the guy she missed was currently curling up on a rug, then back down at Steven. “Buuut.. what about needing time to just ‘be a human’?” she asked nervously.

Steven laughed. Loudly. “Pff, I can do that whenever!”

Sadie stared at a point over on the far wall for a moment, inhaled, and then made a decision. “Okay, let’s go. But.. First, let me get changed into something that isn’t pajamas.” She hesitated. “..Should I bring a towel?”

“Lars has lots of towels,” said Steven obliviously.

 

* * *

 

“This planet is breathtaking at night,” said Padparadscha, gazing at everything around her in an understated wonder. “Everything is.. so beautiful.”

“I knew you’d enjoy it,” Lars said in a pleasant manner as they walked.

Their party, consisting also of Wy and Zee, were hiking single-file along a mountaintop trail, surrounded by atmospheric clouds shrouding other nearby peaks in a beautiful natural satellite-lit blue haze.

Suddenly, Lars yelped and lurched forward as two kids fell out of his head. Zee, walking behind him, quickened her pace to catch him before he hit the ground too.

Sadie looked down to find that Steven had cushioned her fall. She jumped off him quickly and anxiously helped him to his feet. “Oooh, dear - I’m sorry, Steven. Are you okay-?”

“I’m fine,” Steven giggled as he was hauled back onto two feet.

At the same time, Lars was back on his own feet also. “Ugh. Thanks, Zee-”

Sadie blinked up at him, the photons bouncing off him hit her retina like a tonne of bricks but without mass. “Lars?”

His eyes fell upon her also, but it took an extra second to register. The green hair threw him for a second. “SADIE?”

She was stunned by how different he looked. “It’s really you..”

His voice was higher than it should have been. “Aaaaaah-”

Sadie began to look around. “Where.. are you? Where are _we_? Is this.. an alien planet?” She gasped, her eyes glittering. “Am I on an alien planet? This is crazy! It’s amazing! This is so much like-”

She spun around to see the Earth’s moon hanging distant in the sky above them.

“-Earth.” Her excitement died immediately as she finished her sentence. It was Earth all along! She narrowed her eyes in confusion.

Lars was frantic. “No! We’re totally out in space somewhere, uh, but it turns out that.. all moons.. look the same. Right, guys?!” He looked at his friends for help, but the amethysts were intensely confused and Padparadscha was just smiling pleasantly, following the goings-on with interest.

“Ohhh,” said Steven, his familiarity hitting him. “I know this place. It’s the track up to the Sky Spire.” He gasped. “We’re in Norway! ..What are you guys doing here? In Norway?”

The look on Lars’ face was indescribable. So was the look on Sadie’s. In the middle of all this, Padparadscha gasped loudly.

“Oh no! I predict that Lars will be reluctant to admit this is Earth because he had previously made a big deal about not returning here until every member of our crew could come too, and there’s.. still so many of us missing.”

“Oh! Thanks for clearing that up, Padparadscha,” said Wy gratefully as Zee nodded.

“Guys, shudduuuup,” Lars hissed.

“You think I don’t know what the EARTH’S MOON looks like!?” Sadie yelled as she tensed her fingers in frustration. This was Classic Lars. She’d been wearing the rose-tinted glasses again, but they were off now and it was all coming back to her. “Argh! How much of a moron do you think I am?!”

Steven, wide-eyed, stared up as Lars smiled meekly and shrugged at Sadie. “Well.. they don’t call me the Human Boomerang for nothin’!” Lars said, attempting a weak laugh.

Sadie, fuming, turned and stomped away. She left him devastated and dithering in her wake. "I-I like your hair-" he called out, but it didn't help.

“Look - it’s not his fault. It was my idea!” explained Wy, at first addressing Sadie as the stomped off, but then turning to Steven when she didn’t stop. “We’re only here on a mission - in and out.”

“Yeah,” added Zee. “He took a lot of convincing to come. Even to this ‘Scandinavia’ facet, which is well away from your ‘North America’ facet.”

Lars had finished reeling. “Whyyy did you bring Sadie, Steven!”

Steven frowned defensively. “You _invited_ her to come!”

“Well..” A super long pause took place. “YEAH.. but we coulda sorted a time beforehand, right?! You’ve got that Wailing Stone thing, remember?! Argh! You used to barrage me with phonecalls and messages all the freakin’ time - why stop now!? I thought you were taking time off!”

“You _know_ me, Lars - I was really excited for her! And _you!_ You should really go talk to her.”

“What the hell do I even say!”

Steven widened his eyes at his dense friend. “You invited her for a reason, didn’t you!? The _truth,_ _obviously!_ ”

Wy nodded. “Yeah, go. We’ll continue ahead, you can catch up later.”

Steven joined the Amethysts and Padparadscha, while Lars headed hesitantly in the other direction.

She’d disappeared into the trees along the trail opposite to the direction they’d been walking in. He had a general idea of where he’d eventually find her thanks to the limited options available - which were either to stick to the trail, or fall down a steep mountainside. He walked down the way they’d come - down a corkscrew trail, over a rickety wooden bridge, down a case of stairs, all lit softly in the glowing moonlight. He came across her at the base of the trail - the lowest of the peaks. She was sitting dejectedly on the edge of the local warp pad, nearby which they had parked their Roaming Eye. He wasn’t being subtle as he descended the last of the stairs, so she noticed his approach as he emerged from the trees and glanced up.

He was frowning, “Hey..”

She matched his look and then some. “Lars? Are you just.. never going to come back home? Are you never going to talk to me ever again? What, you’ve just.. decided to be a gem now?”

He came to a stop some yards away from her and stood awkwardly as he tried to explain himself. “No, no. I want to come home. I do! But if I visit, I know I’ll just never want to leave again. And I’ve still got stuff to do. I’m _not_ a gem. I’m not trying to be a gem!”

Sadie glared at this particularly dense version of Lars she’d just now bumped into, then indicated his outfit - it was full-on Blue Insignia uniform - his usual outfit these days. Glancing down at himself, his jaw dropped when he realized.

“..This proves nothing!” he panicked, waving his hands around.

Sadie’s expression was enough to indicate disbelief. She didn’t need to say, “Oh it doesn’t, does it?” but she did.

Lars, to his credit, was still trying to explain. “Sadie, it’s just a uniform in case we have to deal with gems. I’m an inter-dimensional portal to space now-”

She glared. “Yeah well not right now, you’re not! You’re on Earth! Why are you even here!?”

“We’re trying to find an old gem thing from back when the war was still-”

Sadie wasn’t really interested in that right now, though. “What about me!?”

“Huh? What about-!?” The switch flipped and he was furious. “What about _me_ -”

“LARS,” she shouted over him. “It’s fine that you’re in space! It’s great that you’re helping Steven and the gems and making good things happen! It means so much for Earth. But you’ve ignored all my letters. You could have at least told Steven to pass on a “hey!” or something. It’s like, you ditched me on that ship, and then, when we’re able to finally hear from you again.. I get _nothing_. I was so worried! And now you’re.. here! Just ‘in the neighborhood’ without so much as a-”

Lars folded his arms at her as he cut in. “I think I have waaaay too much going on to be worried about writing _you_ some stupid letter!” He couldn’t help but glare at her. “Besides, you’ve got the Cool Kids now. You’re getting back at me for everything - just like you always wanted! So who cares?! You already won, AND you’re a rockstar to boot! Why’d you even come see me, huh? You’ve been having such a good time without me - why don’t you just go hang out with THEM.”

Sadie stood up and really leaned into the anger she felt towards him at this moment. “I DO hang out with them, Lars! ALL the time.” She grit her teeth. “Don’t get shitty with me because I’m a guy who decided I could do that _without_ being obnoxious or weird or putting them high up on some insane pedestal! Yeah, we hung out. Yeah, we got along. We became friends and started a band together. But guess what? NONE of that had ANYTHING to do with _you_. In fact, it was because you ditched us that night that we started hanging out in the first place!”

Whatever his angry rebuttal would have been, it caught in his throat. She took the opportunity to land a final strike. “But the funny thing, Lars, is that you could have done what I did, at any time, if only _you-_ ” she pointed at him, “-weren’t such a _fucking pussy_.”

Lars had always thought Sadie was at her hottest when she was angry, especially when the focus of that anger was him, but unfortunately in these situations he only had one kind of response at his disposal - which wasn’t disarming or charming in the slightest - and he fell right back into it as though they had never ever been apart.

“Yeah?” he asked loudly, tensing his shoulders. “Well, maybe I’d have done a little better if I didn’t have you clinging to me like a needy little leech. If I didn’t have this vindictive _bitch_ pushing me, all the time!”

Sadie spluttered, but Lars continued.

“YEAH. ALL THE TIME. All trapping me on islands - POISONING me with fire salt! What the hell was that, you psycho!? How about almost getting me killed by corrupted gems on - count ‘em - TWO separate occasions. And don’t you dare blame one of those times on Ronnie, because-” he pointed an accusing finger, “-As usual, YOU wouldn’t let me LEAVE.”

Sadie almost choked at that one. “Bullsh- I NEVER SAID YOU HAD TO STAY.”

“You wanna shout LOUDER so the DIAMONDS can HEAR!?”

Suddenly, a roar - from something else. They both turned simultaneously and gasped to find themselves confronted by a giant monster that had climbed up the side of the mountain - a gem - corrupted, obviously. It was big, shaped like a dragon, and it looked mad - for all the world as though its rest had been disturbed by raised voices arguing in what would have otherwise been the perfect silence of the night.

“Speak of corrupted gems, right?” said Lars, backing around so that he was closer to her. “Hh, this is no problem.. Sadie, stand back.”

“What are _you_ gunna do!?” she asked incredulously before proceeding to freak out as she witnessed Lars, eyes aglow, pulling a destabilizer out of his also-glowing forehead. “ _LARS?_ ”

He held the destabilizer at the ready and watched the monster slowly approach. He was very serious when he glanced down at her, nerve broken. “Sadie - I-I suck at combat! We gotta get the others-”

In the time it had taken him to explain that, the creature had advanced on them significantly. Lars spun back around quickly, taking a deep breath in the process.

“YAAAAAAAAAGH!”

The creature fell and slid a considerable distance backward due to the strength of the concussive blast that sometimes accompanied his voice these days. Sadie winced and held her hands up to her ears, but she saw the monster almost fall from the side of the cliff.

During this brief moment, she snatched the destabilizer from Lars, who instantly tried to get it back. She held it away from him.

“Hey!”

The corrupted gem monster regrouped and lunged forward again.

“Do the thing again!” she shouted, keeping behind him for now.

He had no other choice anyway, so he roared again. The monster fell back once more and Sadie immediately followed, whizzing past Lars in a little green blur.

Lars was shook. “SADIE-”

But she was doing just fine. She hurled her tough little body at the monster and, while it was attempting to clear its head enough to regroup, thrust the destabilizer into one of its talons. A bright yellow light spread through its body and a second later, the corrupted gem monster poofed into a fine smoke.

Lars lurched forward to quickly pick up the gemstone and squinted up the trail - he thought he could make out the light of the amethysts somewhere along it, upon the top of another peak, and created a portal with a yell of “HEADS UP, STEVEN”, before overarming it through.

There was a decent silence, then, “OW, THANKS” came the distant echoing shout from a different, much higher peak, off in the distance. Sadie turned to him as the portal disappeared.

He immediately turned to Sadie, gushing. “Sadie! You were amazing-”

Sadie had been watching open-mouthed. She raised a hand and cut him off. “What.. was that?”

Lars, running a gamut of emotions right now, felt a little inexplicable embarrassment as he explained. “I, uh, I can’t make bubbles - I just bleed from my face when I try. So I.. threw it at Steven so he can do it.” He rubbed the back of his neck nervously as he continued to blab. “That.. was a portal. I made it. Steven and Connie told you I can do magic stuff now, riiight?”

She was rubbing the bridge of her nose, mad again. “That’s another thing,” she started, “I put you in danger, and I’m the devil. Steven ACTUALLY gets you killed, and suddenly _he’s_ your best friend!?”

The words were out of her mouth before she could stop herself and during a breathless moment where Lars stared at her, stunned, she brought a regretful hand to her mouth.

“I- Oh, no- I didn’t mean.. I don’t think that-”

But Lars was already incensed. He pointed right at her. “Listen to me. I got _myself_ killed.” He grit his teeth and forced the rest of his words through them in a low voice. “And if you ever let that kid hear you say anything like _that_ , I will _never forgive you-_ ” he growled, then stopped short as he realized the air around him was beginning to vibrate with a low, dangerous rumble.

Sadie stumbled backward a few paces before falling back onto her hands and butt. From there she widened her eyes at him, startled as the jarring sense of atmospheric friction faded as quickly as it had arisen. Lars, seeing what he had done, gasped and covered his mouth with both hands.

“What the shit-” she stared up at him as she scrambled back up to her feet, taking an extra step back from him, a little fearful. “That was.. _you_!?”

Their eyes met and she saw Lars aghast, eyes wide with regret. Sadie, mortified at the sudden realization of what was happening, rubbed her temple and shut her eyes tightly. “Damn it Lars,” she murmured, before opening her eyes again. They were softer, this time. “This all just.. it’s familiar, right?”

She looked tired. Worn out.

Lars finally lowered his hands from his mouth to wring them absently in front of his chest. “I.. know,” his eyes were downcast. “But, why would _you_ ever say something like that? You’ve always liked Steven.”

She shook her head and, slouching, walked over and sat back down on the side of the warp pad, sinking her face into her hands. “I didn’t mean it - I just wanted to be angry. At you. I’m sorry.”

Staying where he was, Lars watched her. “Yeah. Well.. me too. I’m sorry too.”

He noticed the disbelief in the look she shot him, and felt like he had to follow it up. “I‘ve been thinking about this day for a long time.” He hesitated before adding, “I.. had so much I wanted to say to you when I saw you again and _none_ of it was _that_.”

She frowned and shut her eyes, not wanting to hear it. “Stop. Look. You’re right. I pushed. And I pushed and pushed you, when you weren’t ready.” She opened her eyes again, staring at a twig on the ground in front of her. “I wanted you to be something you weren’t. I wanted you.. to be..” she paused and looked up at him as something awful occurring to her.

“Wait. That night we spent together. Did- did I _push_ you into..” she couldn’t say it, but her eyes betrayed the sadness she felt inside her as she stared up at him. “Did you not want-”

He blushed heavily. “Stop. I totally wanted that.. you know I did.” He cleared his throat nervously, “Maybe it.. messed this whole thing up.”

“Yeah,” she agreed miserably. “Maybe it did.”

All their mistakes were laid out in front of them, out here in the moonlight. There was no ignoring them anymore.

Sadie narrowed her eyes, glancing off to the side. “Listen. I know you don’t owe me a damn thing. You don’t even owe me a letter.. but I thought we were friends, at least.”

His voice was small. “Sadie, c’mon. We’re, uh, more than that, right?”

She raised her eyes to take him in. “Are we? Should we be?”

A silence passed between them before Lars opened his mouth. “I didn’t want you to see me again until I felt like I had proved myself. I hate that I just.. ran away and left you in the hands of that topaz. Maybe, I could have freed you, and maybe..” his voice was low, “Maybe we could have made it. But you-” he laughed, strained, “-You really saw my number that day.”

“You could never have freed me, Lars,” she replied in a small voice, quickly wiping away a single tear with a sleeve.

Her words hung in the air for a moment before he spoke up.

“I could’ve tried,” Lars said as he kicked quietly at a fallen leaf.

She watched him miserably until he spoke up again.

“I couldn’t explain my stupid feelings in writing because I suck at letters. I tried! A lot! My head is like a landfill full of idiotic crumpled-up letters to you.” He inhaled through his nose. “You were right in your first one - when you’re trying to write the stuff in your guts, it totally looks meaningless on paper.” He shrugged. “That’s all that was. I don’t want to remind you of your sperm donor fath-” he swallowed hard and looked away. “I mean, I wasn’t trying to be a jerk.”

Sadie smiled slightly, touched that he’d remembered enough of her letter to reference it. “So, why didn’t you just write that. Or tell Steven to tell me.”

“You know me, I.. shove stuff down and get all wound up. I’m trying to work on that.”

She looked physically sick. “Well, you’re not the only one. I’m a monster, Lars. I’ve been trying to do to you what my mother has always done to me.”

Lars exhaled deeply. “You aren’t a monster. I know you care about me. I just.. was never clear on why. Do.. you.. really think I’m a pussy?”

“No. Never.” She kicked her legs idly over the edge of the warp pad. “That was just me, pushing you. And I’m doing it again. I’m pushing you to come back to Earth.. or, at least your real life, when you’re clearly not ready.”

He gave her an odd look. “Sadie, this _is_ my real life. This is actually what I’m doing for now.”

She waved a hand around as if it could help her express herself better. “You know what I mean. Your old life. But.. even that will be different now.” She perked up. “Beach City is so different now! Did you know Nanefua is Mayor? Did you know that happened because you were taken?”

He snorted a little. “Yeah, the kids told me ages ago. I bet she’s getting things done.”

“Yeah, she is,” Sadie smiled. “We’ve got defense plans in place in case we get more space gems - there’s all this stuff going on, and the Crystal Gems are even _telling_ us stuff now, which is pretty cool. All of them! Not just Steven.”

She patted at the empty space on the warp pad beside her. He took the cue and sat down. They stared out, together, over the moonlit clouds ensconcing a sea of peaks in a silvery blue. Above them, the familiar stars twinkled. Lars slowly leaned back so that he was looking directly up at them, back flat against the surface of the warp pad. Sadie lay back alongside him, too, so that they were close but not touching.

A long moment of stargazing passed before Sadie spoke. “So.. which star you orbiting these days?” she asked quietly but with interest.

Lars narrowed his eyes at the constellations hanging far above them. He considered lying to seem more intelligent, but he didn’t like the feel of that anymore. “Hmm.. I, uhhhh. I have no idea. These are all just stars to me.”

She blinked in surprise. “Really?”

“Just because I’m living in space doesn’t mean I can tell the stars apart, Sadie. They’re just dots in the sky. The view from the space station is way different from this.”

“Hm,” she admitted. “Makes sense.”

“I don’t even know if you can see it.”

Sadie’s expression became a wide-eyed sadness as she stared at those distant stars. “That.. _sucks._ ”

“..It really does.”

After a few minutes of silent stargazing, Lars piped back up. “I don’t know how long this will take, Sadie. It’s been, I don’t know how long - months?”

She didn’t take her eyes off the sky as she replied. “Oh. It’s been about seven months since you left Earth.”

His eyes widened. His timekeeping due to not needing sleep and being in space was bad at best, so it was a little unpleasant to hear. “Seven.. months. A-and we’ve only just found Padparadscha. There’s like, ten whole others out there somewhere.”

She raised her eyebrows, alarmed. “I thought there were only four!”

“Sure - but two are.. _were_ fusions. They’ll all be separated.” He blinked. “Wait. Nine.. Because the Twins share a gemstone between them.. but we only need to find one gem to get both of them back..” He narrowed his eyes. “Is that right? Nine? Or. Wait.” He attempted to count it all out on his fingers.

Sadie smiled at this, but her eyes were tired. “Good to see you’re still bad at math.”

He soon gave up. “Leads me to another point, I guess. I think I’m, uh..” he glanced down briefly, “A-aging slower? Or.. maybe not at all?”

“What makes you think that?”

“Mostly Steven..” he admitted. “But my hair also hasn’t started growing back in yet? It’s been seven months, apparently, and it’s still a perfect pompadour, unsullied by unsightly regrowth.”

She reached over and moved her fingers gently up the sides of his head.

“Eh.. I can feel a little stubble there, liar.”

“Yeah. It should just be thicker by now, is all,” he said simply. “Parents sent me a razor and nail clippers and stuff ages ago in one of their first care packages but I haven’t needed any of it.”

“Hmm.” She hesitated. She wondered what the implications could be, but quickly attempted to mask it with humor. “If it’s true.. at least now you have a decent explanation why you can’t grow facial hair,” she smiled suddenly. “You should use it next time some asshole customer gives you shit about it. Just be like “I’m pink now, bitch!” and then kick ‘em through a portal into the dumpster or something.”

Both of them burst into sudden laughter.

“Oh man. Remember that one ultra-rude guy? I was so ticked off, but the bossman was, like, right there!” He laughed.

“Haha! You almost had an aneurysm,” Sadie wiped a tear of laughter. “At least we don’t have to work together anymore. That’s good.”

“Yeah,” he agreed. “We really used to drive each other crazy.”

“I’m sorry. About all the stuff. Hey? Do you really think I’m a vindictive bitch?”

He smiled at her, “Kinda?” And when she frowned, he quickly added; “Only in the best way. I was going to say sorry for being such a massive jerk to you the whole time we were.. uh, a thing.”

“I mean, yeah, you’re a jerk. Sometimes. Who isn’t? But you didn’t deserve any of the things I did. I was supposed to be your friend. I was.. supposed to treat you better.”

Lars flailed. “No, no! I needed to treat you better! I always left you all the hard work. I faked being injured or sick so I didn’t have to do anything. And, I knew you really liked me, so I.. I _used_ that..” he glanced down, ashamed. “I went on and on about other girls when I knew how you felt about me.”

She glanced down at the ground beneath them. “Are you really upset about me hanging with the Cool Kids?”

“Kinda. Or.. maybe I was? I dunno anymore. If I am, I’ll get over it.” His voice quavered a little as he said, “Actually, I, uh, think it’s awesome. You’ve got this wicked group of friends, you’re a _rockstar_.. You looked really happy in all those photos. It was good to see.”

“Stop.. stop,” Sadie laughed a tired laugh, and Lars indeed stopped. She sunk into herself a little as she tried to verbalize her thoughts. “This feels like a.. dream. I can’t believe I’m suddenly just talking to you. You’re right here in front of me for the first time, and the only thing we do is.. get into a massive fight. Like it’s the good old days.”

“We were in a rut..” he admitted to her.

“No doubt,” sighed Sadie.

He sunk a little. “There’s literally a planet full of people right here-” he tapped the ground below him with his boot, “-who are totally normal.”

“I know. I’ve always just liked _you_ , though.” Sadie said, fidgeting her thumbs together gently. “The real you.”

Reluctantly, he asked, “What about now that I’m pink?”

She fixed her eyes on the moon. “Well.. How do you feel about it?”

He smiled, all teeth. “Better than being dead.”

She glanced sarcastically at him. “Dear Diary. Today I learned that being a space god with superpowers beats being dead. Who knew.”

Lars rolled his eyes. “ _Uuuuuugh._ You can have everything I own if you never say that again.”

“Even the stop sign?!” her eyes glittered.

He huffed. “ _Not_ my awesome stop sign.”

“No deal,” she laughed, and he joined in too.

When their laughter died off, Lars exhaled. “Listen. I didn’t mean to sound flippant just now. I’m really happy to be alive.” He shrugged after a moment. “Whatever that means. It’s hard and.. different. And apparently it means I have to be pink, but.. I’m okay with it.” He paused briefly before continuing, “And I really like you too, Sadie. Always have.”

She shrugged as she glanced over at him and then, carefully, she said, “Well, what would you say to just starting over?”

Lars looked back to meet her eyes, a little nervous. “Like, you mean, ‘Hey, wuddup, I’m Lars’ and you’re all “Hi also, I’m Sadie,” and we shake hands as I attempt to explain why the fuck I look like I was caught up in a cotton candy explosion-”

She snorted. “No, no. Too formal. What I mean is, like, maybe we just blank slate this whole thing. Start again. No expectations. Can we do that? We don’t get the privilege of driving each other batshit crazy at work anymore, so.. there’s that. Maybe we can just get to know each other again without being in each other’s faces constantly.”

“So.. Maybe it works out. Maybe it doesn’t?” he asked.

Sadie smiled. “Either way, we’ll be friends.”

“And, we just hang sometime and be chill?”

“Yeah.” She smiled up at him. “Let’s chill.”

“Chill.” He smiled back. “I like that.”

She giggled softly. “Me too.”

A silence passed between them.

“So.. does the carpet match the drapes?” she asked after a short while.

He blushed but nodded. “..You?”

“No,” she giggled, smiling at him. He laughed as well.

When the laughter faded, they sat together in a comfortable silence.

 

* * *

 

“But that’s enough about my dad’s tennis elbow! How’s it been out in space?”

Steven and the gems had made it to the top of the spiral staircase and thus the final flat, circular peak upon which the Heaven Beetle’s previous residence still lay on a platform in the middle of a perfectly flat pool of water that came right up to the edges of the peak.

“Slow, but that’s fine by us,” shrugged Zee as they walked across the bridge to the tiny temple. “I’ve had enough of unexpected bullshit surprises for now.”

“This, coming from the one gem who was poofed for most of the jungle moon thing,” said Wy, making a show of appearing exasperated. “How d’ya think I feel!?”

“You’re being dramatic, Wy.” Zee turned back to Steven. “So we jumped at the chance to come here while the destroyer-”

“Are you saying it’s still there?!” Steven was alarmed.

“Last we heard, they were finishing up,” Wy smiled. “They’ll be gone by the time we get back - Thank the stars! We tried to get Peridot to come too, but she’s still working on getting the diamond screen to interface with the ship’s systems. She’s also hanging out to get the boulders rolling on those thrusters the first chance she gets, so she preferred to stay put.”

“That sounds like Peridot,” said Steven. “Always keeping busy.”

They stood around the little temple and gazed down at it. Padparadscha bunched up her skirts so that when she fell to her knees to peer inside, they didn’t just become a huge mess.

“It’s.. wonderful,” she breathed. “Who in the cosmos could have furnished this place?”

The others got in close to peer inside through various tiny windows, but it must have been a rhetorical question because no one could answer her.

“So.. you think there’s a magical artifact lying around here?” asked Steven.

“Perhaps whoever lives here can help us,” shrugged Zee, glancing around for signs of habitation. However, she stopped and scratched her head as soon as something occurred to her. “Hm. She’ll.. be corrupted, though.”

“Yeah,” Steven smiled up at them sadly. “The Heaven Beetle is safe in the basement at home.”

Padparadscha reached a delicate hand into the little temple and began to gently poke around amongst the tiny objects, being very careful not to break or mess anything.

“Hold on,” said Steven, “The last time I was here, there was a huge corrupted bird gem. After it ate me, I saw it had a bunch of stuff in its belly.” He frowned. “But Opal - er, Pearl and Amethyst’s fusion - poofed it..”

Wy tisked sharply. “If it was in there, it could be anywhere.”

“Well, it’s so peaceful here, I don’t mind that we came all this way probably for no reason,” said Zee as she sat down on the edge of the platform they were standing on, letting her legs dangle into the water. Then she glanced back at him with a startled look. “Wait - the corruption _ate_ you?”

Steven shrugged, nonchalant. “I survived.”

“Hey guys!” Lars waved as he and Sadie emerged from the dome into which the staircase terminated.

“What’s what?” Sadie asked. They hurried to gather with the rest of them around the little house in the middle of the circular platform.

“It’s the Heaven Beetle’s tiny house,” enthused Steven.

“You.. just made that up,” Lars eyed the kid with light suspicion.

Down by his side, Sadie cleared her throat. It was the perfect prompting for Lars. “Oh, yeah. Guys! Meet Sadie. Sadie, this is Padparadscha, Wy and Zee.”

Padparadsha smiled. “We’ve heard so much about you!”

“Oh, you.. you have?” She glanced at Lars, surprised. “You.. talk about me?”

“No!” he looked appalled at the very suggestion, but she was onto him. She looked pleased.

The next hour or so was spent talking, catching up, and hunting for the object they’d come all this way to find. Their efforts regarding the last item were unfruitful, so they eventually just began to lounge around. Wy stepped into the water, which came up to about waist height on her. It made Lars remember something, and he grabbed Sadie’s attention.

“Hey, watch this!”

He ran over and pretended like he was going to throw himself into the water, only to land on his knees on top of the surface of it, sliding a few yards out. The impact sent ripples radiating out.

Sadie blinked hard and walked over to the edge of the platform. She dipped the toe of her shoe in but pulled it back quickly since she didn’t actually want a waterlogged shoe. “How are you doing that?”

Lars lifted himself back up onto his feet and did the biggest shrug ever. “Iunno!”

Soon, he had her hefted up in his arms - something he could never have done in the past - and she was giggling as they both bobbed up and down as they wandered around on the surface of the pool. Nearby, Zee and Wy had started having a vicious waterfight as Padparadscha sat with her legs dangling over the platform, her skirts bunched up out of the water.

Steven stood on the platform and smiled at the scene as Zee grinned mischievously, spotting Lars and Sadie nearby. Unable to help herself, she sent a storm of water over the both of them. Lars noticed in the middle of it and sprinted to get away as Sadie clung to him tightly, eyes closed.

“Hahaha! Noooo!” she laughed.

When she opened her eyes again, she noticed something glinting at her from beneath the water’s ripples. She squinted and loosened an arm to point the whatever-it-was out to Lars. “Hey, what’s that?”

He turned his head to look, and walked over so that he was standing over it and carefully squatted down with her still in his arms for a closer look. The item revealed itself to be a small carving of a pyramid with a glimmering multi-coloured gemstone embedded into in the back of it.

“Is that what you came here for?” she asked.

Lars blinked in surprise. “Might be! But I can’t get it. Can you-”

“Uh, no? I don’t wanna get my _whole body_ wet..”

“Right, right. Hey, guys!” he called over to the amethysts. “C’mere, there’s a thing.”

Wy waded over to retrieve the thing and, shortly, everyone was gathered back on the platform. Lars placed Sadie back down onto her own two feet as Wy held the object out on her palm for everyone to see.

“What is it?” asked Steven.

“Is it the scrying thing?” asked Lars.

“It is,” said Wy with a smile.

Lars looked a little uneasy. “I didn’t realize it’d be a gem..”

“No, no,” Zee hurried to reassure him. “I mean, although gems like us _can_ be embedded in objects, this gemstone was never a conscious being.”

“How do you know that?” asked Sadie.

Zee plucked the item out of Wy’s hand and, holding it by the pyramid, raised the gemstone into the moonlight. “If you hold it in the light and look at it just right, you can usually tell.” She squinted at it. “..Yeeeah, this is more of a..”

“Kitchen appliance?” suggested Steven, but the amethysts didn’t have the context required to understand. Lars and Sadie did, however.

“Why’d you come all this way for.. this?” came another quick question from Sadie.

“There’s a chance it can help find us the rest of our crew,” Padparadscha happily informed them.

“Really!?” Steven was amped. “Oh my gosh, that would be so amazing!” He found himself a little emotional. “I-I.. I can’t wait to see the others again. Rhodonite.. Flourite! The Twins!”

Lars smiled. “Maybe this’ll get us a few steps closer, huh?”

Padparadscha wiped away a sudden tear that had been trickling down her face, but otherwise looked optimistic. This was the moment Sadie fell head-over-heels in love with the little orange gem.

“Hey, we gotta document this moment,” Sadie exclaimed, smiling. She pulled her phone out of her pocket. “Padparadscha, will you take a picture with me?”

“Oh! I predict I’ll be asked to be in a picture,” she stammered, flattered. “I’ve.. never been in a picture before!”

Sadie pulled out her phone as the other gems watched on, perplexed. She maneuvered herself next to Padparadscha, figured out the right angle and held her phone up. “Lars? You too - come down here, get real close to me,” she waggled a finger at him and Lars squatted down awkwardly to oblige. Several selfies later, the amethysts and were soon encouraged by Steven to join him in photo-bombing them and about an extra hour of their remaining time together were spent in this way - posing for selfies.

But no matter the many wonderful and creative methods one can employ to delay parting ways, it can’t last forever. Sadie had a band to meet for practice, and the spacers needed to return to space.

Sadie waved as she walked over to jump up onto the warp pad. “Bye everyone, great to finally meet you! Take care of Lars, okay?” She shot him a smile.

Lars, touched by this, smiled back. “Y-you too! I’ll write you - and we’ll chill sometime, alright?”

“Yeah!” she replied amid a chorus of farewells, and Steven then warped the both of them out of there.

“I approve of your Sadie,” said Padparadscha once the light of the warp stream had faded. “But then, I never thought I wouldn’t. I predict that I’ll miss her when she goes. Steven, too.”

The amethysts began to move over toward the Roaming Eye, but Lars jumped up onto the cleared warp pad. He took a moment to wonder about how they were just here one instant, and gone in a flash of light the next. He felt something catch in his throat as he occupied the space _she’d_ just been standing in, not a moment earlier.

He needed some distraction.

He immediately spun around to complain at the gems. “That damn kid, right?!”

“Huh?” asked Wy.

He began acting all irritable. “He can’t ever just take a day off. Like, I tell him not to worry about delivering my stupid letters, and he just up and damn hell ass DOES it the first stupid chance he gets. And then, without arranging _anything_ with me first, he just brings her through my head at like the worst possible-”

“Woah, cool it,” said Zee. “It’s been at least five cycles since we last saw him, right? It’s not like he didn’t wait at all.”

“..Okay, you got me there,” he admitted.

“And you got to see Sadie again!” Wy gently reminded him.

“..Yeah, that was.. pretty amazing,” he also admitted.

Zee raised an eyebrow at him. “So what are you even whinging about?”

“But..”

Wy was not interested in hearing his bitching. She changed the subject. “Why don’t you tell us what being on Earth again feels like? It’s been.. how long for you, now?”

Zee shrugged. “A long time by _human_ standards..”

“Haha, uh. It feels.. pretty great,” he smiled. “But, uh, I’m more interested in finding out how you guys feel about being here again after _thousands_ of-”

Suddenly, Padparadscha wasn’t smiling. “I’m sorry, everyone.. my premonition is that Lars is about to.. lie?” She raised her hands to her face. “Oh no, wait. That can’t be right-”

The two amethysts looked at Padparadscha in surprise, then at Lars whose smile had completely abandoned his now-troubled face.

He crumbled under the weight of their confused stares and exhaled slowly.

“I feel like a _stranger_ ,” he muttered.

Padparadscha extended an arm towards him. “Captain? But.. You belong here, remember? Not here in Facet Scandinavia, of course, but I mean Earth in general.”

Upon his next inhale, which went deeper and shakier than it usually did, he found he couldn’t contain the sob that spilled out. He couldn’t put into words how messed up he felt inside.

He quickly folded his arms into his torso and turned away from his friends to try to hide the fact that he was trying to hold back tears, but it was already super obvious to everyone present.

“You don’t have to feel like that?” said Zee, making her statement sound like a question. “You can still go with them,” she continued with a kind of heavy reluctance. “I mean.. we’d miss you, but we.. we have all those Roaming Eyes, and the direct line to Earth.” She shrugged as she continued, waving a hand around. “I guess your inter-dimensional bridge is faster, much more discreet, _heaps_ safer, and your portal-thing is insanely useful and has saved us all a few times now.. but, but we’d figure it out-”

“You could _be home,_ right now,” Wy urged him, quietly, motioning towards the warp pad he was standing on. “You could _be_ with her. You can do it. It’s so close..”

He sunk at the shoulders, looking with tired eyes out over the cloudy, forested peaks that stretched on into the moonlit night.

“Whatever you decide, Captain,” said Padparadscha quietly as she climbed up onto the warp pad to join him there, “I’m there with you.”

He dropped his gaze and stared hard down at the crystal platform beneath his boots. In it, he caught sight of his own reflection. The facial scar, the pink skin, the pale pink hair - he saw it all clearly.

The glittering stars, far above him.

Sadie had been right. He wasn’t ready.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> First time writing real!Sadie! XD I figure she can swear when Steven’s not around - Fight me.
> 
> This is the climax of the fic, and the whole reason I wrote this thing. I know - I’m a monster. Fic’s over now - see you!
> 
> Just kidding .. there’s still more.
> 
> I love writing massive arguments, and I can’t get over how complicated Larsadie is. If it’s ever going to work, they need to let out all the ugliness and wind it right back. My thoughts, anyway.
> 
> For those interested, the tune Sadie has in her head at the start is ‘Oh, Maker’ by Janelle Monae - A really lovely song about loss. Felt appropriate. 
> 
> I’ve had this chapter mostly finished and ready to roll since late April, before The Visit was stricken from the To Do list. ._. I was originally trying to slot this in as early as Chapter 10, but nope. The story had other ideas. It’s been A Pure Hell sitting on this one and having to push it further and further back because I’m fond of it.
> 
>  ~~Couldn’t find a location on the Sky Spire (from ‘Giant Woman’) - but it reminded me of Huangshan, China, with the cool hills. I’m happy to be corrected - it’s likely I haven’t looked hard enough.~~ Evidence points to it being Norway instead! Thanks to Geronimon for letting me know, in the comments. Chapter's been edited to reflect this.


	21. The Hedged Bet.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> How far should you go to protect yourself from loss?

Neither Sadie nor Lars thought they’d be meeting up in person again so soon.

.. To be fair, it had been about a week since the Earth mission to the Sky Spire - sure; but events over the previous week had seen a lot of new possibilities arise for Earth and its allied gems.

Presently, the two of them were stepping foot out of the Roaming Eye onto an alien planet, together, as part of Nanefua’s entourage which also consisted of Connie with her sword, Dr Maheswaran, both of Nanefua’s mayoral bodyguards, and-

 _Onion,_ suddenly, in the midst of a chorus of alarmed gasps.

“Hey!” Connie yelled as the kid darted out from wherever he’d been hiding. “Onion!? What are _you_ doing here!?”

“Aw no,” groaned Lars. “Steven! You had a stowaway!” he vented his frustration at no one in particular because Steven had already gone home through his head, along with Peridot who had piloted them here.

Meanwhile, Onion ran a short distance away from them but skidded to an abrupt halt as he clearly struggled to make sense of what he was seeing before him.

This place was _alien_. The sky, comprised of orange tones and dotted by a handful of glittering stars despite it being day, was bright and clear.

Sadie squinted and held a hand to shield her eyes from this planet’s daystar. “Ugh, I knew I should’ve brought sunblock.”

They - or rather, Peridot - had been instructed to land the Roaming Eye on a square platform at the top of an unbelievably massive structure resembling a steppe pyramid that absolutely dwarfed any similar structure on Earth, in the middle of a beautiful garden full of weird looking trees and strange shrubs. They were able to look out beyond it, only to spy vegetative life as far as the eye could see surrounding the pyramid, sprawling and spreading out into an orange haze toward the faint, distant, jagged mountains. This insanely huge structure was surrounded by a magnitude of untamed wilderness that was rare on Earth.

Arcological living was obviously heavily favored by the sentients of this planet, and it obviously afforded the rest of the planet’s natural life the freedom to run rampant.

A light breeze passing through the foliage surrounding them ruffled their hair and clothing.

Connie ran forth to grab the small child who was briefly mesmerized by all this and brought him back to the group. In spite of his initial rambunctiousness, Onion went willingly. He thought himself big enough to be able to admit when he was caught and waved briefly in an amicable manner at his fellow townies.

“Muhmuhmuh, muh,” he said by way of apology. Or everyone assumed as much, at least.

Nanefua thoughtfully considered the situation.

“It’s fine,” she said after a moment. “The terms of the meeting dictated that our delegation be comprised solely of humans, no gems. Unless sweet little Onion has a strange and unexpected surprise for us, we’re still golden,” she smiled.

An awkward moment passed, and Sadie felt the need to eye the little kid uncertainly. “You.. _are_ human, right? Little guy?”

Onion nodded once. That was good enough for everyone. Except Priyanka.

“We really should call and get Steven to take him home,” she said with a touch of trepidation. “This is no place for a small child. Who knows what could happen here. I’m surprised we can even breathe here!”

“I’m sure he’ll behave, mom,” said Connie. “Maybe an experience like this will be.. character-building for Onion.”

“You know who really wanted to come?” Sadie asked of Lars, who shrugged. “Ronaldo!” she continued. “He felt so cheated. He _really_ wanted to be one of Earth’s very first interstellar diplomats.”

“Jeeze, he would have snapped my neck and killed me,” Lars said, shaking his head albeit with amusement. “Who talked him down?”

“Ah, he couldn’t be talked out of it,” Connie said a little sheepishly. “We eventually just.. told him the wrong time. Steven should be trying to reason with him iiiin..” she glanced at her watch, “-About ten minutes.”

Lars pulled a face. “Yeesh.”

“Awkward is right,” Nanefua shook her head. “I remember the pleading and the crying like it was two days ago.” She smiled. “Because it _was_ two days ago. At the meeting.”

Another soft breeze sprung up, and Sadie glanced around. “Anyone else feel kinda trapped up here?” she asked nervously.

“Huh?” Lars asked, scratching lightly at his side - he was wearing full-on human clothes his parents had long since sent him from home, and it had been a jarring feeling to find them less comfortable than he remembered. He hoped he just needed to get used to his favorite green snake shirt and jeans, again.

Before Sadie could elaborate, Priyanka spoke up.

“I.. Wait. There’s something I don’t understand,” she said suddenly with a troubled look as she turned to the rest of the group. “Why now?”

“Huh?” asked Connie, still with Onion’s hand in her own.

Priyanka held out her hands to shrug. “If the inhabitants of this star system have been evading gem invasion in this so-called ‘dead zone’ for thousands of years now, why are we only hearing about this now?”

“Mom. The Zoo only discovered all this recently,” Connie explained patiently. “Peridot and Bea Jasper came across some files on that screen of Yellow Diamond’s that we ‘claimed’ from-”

Priyanka shook her head emphatically. “Sweetie, I was at the meeting too - I know all that. I’m asking, _how._ I know gems _talk_ , and I know they talk about strange things that happen. Why wasn’t this at least.. some rumor?”

“Oh,” said Lars, cutting in. “Uh, it kinda seems like the Diamonds use propaganda when things don’t go their way. The public mud planet reports didn’t mention why _that_ colony was abandoned, after all.” He rolled his eyes, “ _Yellow’s_ personal files on the other hand go into _all_ the horrible details-”

He stopped talking suddenly as he noticed Connie’s meaningful glare. He smiled to himself as he zipped it. He knew it meant she hadn’t come clean about that mission to her parents just yet - which was worth noting, he felt.

Anyway, Connie had taken over explaining. “The gems at the Zoo didn’t even know Earth was still around until almost a year ago,” she shrugged. “They all thought it had been destroyed thousands of years ago.”

Priyanka still looked deeply confused. “Well.. other gems were here too, right? Trying to colonize this place? Why-”

Connie scratched her head. “Could’ve been the same sort of thing.. First, you evacuate everyone. Then you tell them you blew it up, and they believe it because they never have a reason to doubt.”

“But, wait,” said Sadie. “Aren’t gems like, these amazing powerful beings and stuff? Surely-”

Lars snorted. “Most of them are just like us; they don’t actually _know_ anything. The quartzes at the Zoo, at least - They’re like.. worker drone wage slaves. Without the wage.”

“Ugh,” groaned Sadie. “That’s really _sad._ ”

“I.. see,” was all Priyanka had to say about it for now.

After a few moments of quiet, Sadie spoke up again. “Well, I guess.. it’s kinda peaceful here. But, aren’t we supposed to be meeting some alien?”

As if her words were the trigger to some kind of event, a gap opened in the floor a few meters in front of them and out of it levitated a small triangular platform, upon which a very odd-looking alien stood.

Everyone stiffened. The mayoral bodyguards stepped forward, ready to protect Nanefua if needed. Connie had her hand on the hilt of her sword, and Lars took a deep breath - they were both ready.

The alien was short - not much taller than Sadie and not much shorter than Connie, and they had large, dark yet expressive rodent-looking eyes embedded in a large round face as well as long, draping ears adoring its head which also supported a mane of flowing hair. In terms of hue, the creature was a mid-grey with undertones of green. It wore fancy-looking gold-trimmed, flowing clothing that didn’t resemble a style known to any of the earthlings.

The creature greeted them with a wave of one three-fingered hand.

“Fascinating,” breathed Priyanka as she forgot for a second to be horrified by all of this.

“Greetings,” they said simply. “I am Ulo. Do not be alarmed by what follows.”

A new thing - a small orb - flew out of the space in the floor and immediately made a beeline for a small group.

The creature continued; “If you are organic like you say, you will not be harmed.”

Lars found himself instantly on edge. Rationally, he knew he had no beleaguered gems here to protect, but he was reminded intimately of the shattering robonoids roaming the cave systems and kindergartens below the bleak surface of Homeworld. What he was witnessing here definitely brought that trauma screaming back.

The orb stopped in front of them and immediately released a bright flash of green light over all the gathered humans, who expressed slight surprised at the goings-on. Lars took a shaky step back but other than that, there was no time to react - it was over as soon as it happened.

But the alien seemed to be correct - they were unharmed. Except for..

“Augh-” grunted Lars, finding that it hurt a little. This earned the concerned glances of his peers.

The orb swung around to focus solely on him, and snapped that green flash at him once more. He grit his teeth, tense from the weird albeit brief full-body ache it had elicted within him, and swung an arm out to try to smack the thing away.

The orb dodged efficiently and flew up out of his range as Sadie placed a hand on his back.

“Are you okay?” she asked, concerned.

“You didn’t feel that?” he asked right back, and raised an eyebrow as she frowned and shook her head.

Ulo spoke again, raising a hand to point a clawed finger at the pink guy. “Explain this creature.”

Lars wasn’t a fan of being singled out during the best of times, and he paled immediately as an uneasiness settled upon the shoulders of the rest of them.

“ _Human_ , like the rest of us,” Connie called out, bristling, letting go of Onion’s hand. She’d already decided she didn’t like this alien. “Are you ever planning on talking with us, or not!?”

Ulo took a moment to consider the situation, rubbing their chin lightly with one hand, dark eyes unreadable.

“Hmm. Possibly.. anomalous,” they piped back up. “I will take you at your word. Welcome.”

 

* * *

 

Back on Earth, in Steven’s living room sat the rest of the Crystal Gems. Gathered around the table, they’d been playing cards for a while now.

Just waiting.

Steven found he couldn’t quite give the cards in his hands the kind of attention they deserved, however, and let his eyes drift around the room until they landed on Lion whom he could sort of see lying on the floor asleep with his head on the bottom step of the stairs next to them.

Amethyst noticed and waved a hand meaningfully at him from where she was sprawled out over the side of the couch. “Yo. Eyes on cards. Remember the plan.”

Steven hadn’t been a huge fan of the plan. He so desperately wanted to just be there with them. “I know,” he said reluctantly. “I’m just worried. I mean, we don’t even know-”

“They’re fine,” Garnet said, looking up from her hand to reassure him. “It’s a closed scenario. They _will_ return in every future, all of them. Of that, I am certain. But with what, exactly, is up to them. Now, Steven. Hand me your three.”

She held out her hand and Steven held out his three. “I like that we’re not pretending you’re not cheating anymore,” he said with a small smile.

“I don’t _always_ use my power for good, you know,” she joked as she accepted the card.

“I also am morally ambivalent when it comes to my power!” chirped Peridot as she shuffled her cards around. This was less of a joke.

They played a while longer before Steven began to feel anxious once more.

“Aaah! I could have gone with them!” he complained in a sudden outburst. “We shouldn’t have sent them off there alone like that.”

“What else were we supposed to do?” said Amethyst, rearranging her cards so that the order made even less sense. “They’re not fond of gems, apparently.”

“Yes. And _you_ have a gem, remember?” Pearl gently reminded him for about the umpteenth time, as if he’d forgotten. “They were pretty clear about not wanting to see any gems as part of the delegation. It’s not safe. The only thing we have to do is sit here and wait until they call via the Zoo.” Pearl smiled suddenly. “Besides - Connie is with them. She’s my best student. And Lars is there too.. he’s usually useful! And, those.. bodyguards..” Then, after a pause, “Eh, I’m sure they’re fine. Garnet seems to think so.”

Garnet nodded once to reiterate the reassurance.

Amethyst looked apologetically at him. “Sorry your supposed holiday from space stuff is being steamrolled by all this, Stee-man. Also - any tens?”

“It doesn’t matter,” he shrugged, moving his eyes back down to his cards. “It’s just timing, I guess. Go fish.”

Amethyst sucked air in through her teeth. “Dang. Well, once this mission’s over, we’re going to go.. swimming, or whatever!” she promised him. “Or maybe real fishing! That’ll be fun, right?”

Steven glanced outside at the rain that was still coming in sideways before meeting her eyes with a dour look. “Can’t wait.”

Everyone suddenly tensed as a dripping wet Ronaldo burst through the door. He had his investigator’s hat on as well as a jacket - neither of which had done anything at all to protect him against the rain.

“I’m here!” he called, excitedly catching his breath. “I’m ready for space!”

“Oh.. yeeeah,” Amethyst breathed. “I forgot about that.”

Ronaldo was alarmed. “Forgot! About the very important space mission!? What kind of two-bit operation is this!?”

“No,” started Pearl, frowning. “She means we forgot about _you._ ”

“I’ll put him outside,” shrugged Garnet as she placed her cards face down on the table.

Steven saw Ronaldo’s intense hurt and confusion and took a deep breath, placing his own cards face down on the table as he pulled himself up out of the sofa. “No, wait. Leave it to me.”

Ronaldo watched as Steven approached him. The kid had a fairly serious look on his face as he waved slightly. “Hey, Ronaldo. Uh.. fine weather we’re having?”

Ronaldo opened his mouth to reply and indicate how wet it was out, but Steven cut him off.

“Yep, I know, I realized as I said it. So, listen - I’ve tried being nice, but now I’m just going to be blunt. You _can’t_ go to space through Lion. You’ll snap Lars in half. Connie’s mom has enough trouble going through, and Garnet has to shapeshift dramatically to do it!”

“I always turn into a cat when I go,” grinned Amethyst. “I’m his _favorite._ ”

“Yeah, yeah, we’ll all argue over who is Lars’ favorite Crystal Gem later,” Steven told her quickly before turning back to Ronaldo, who was _shook_.

“What!”

Steven spread his arms wide. “It’s just, you’ll be exiting through the top of his _head!_ Think about it, Ronaldo - Lars is tall and skinny. He’s got a pencil-neck. His center of gravity is higher than I can even imagine and meanwhile, you’re built like a truck! Of course you’ll get stuck, and.. you’ll fall and break your teeth, and he’ll die again, and it’s just.. it’s not even math. It’s commonsense.”

He’d been too worried about Ronaldo’s reaction to really explain this to him until now, and watched him in trepidation. To his credit, this explanation gave Ronaldo pause and he adjusted his glasses in a thoughtful manner.

“Okay, what if I lose some weight, and.. Lars.. grows out his hair?”

Steven blinked slowly at his weird friend. “While technically possible, neither of those things can happen fast enough in time to go to space today, buddy.”

Ronaldo heaved a weary sigh. “Well, damn. I was.. really excited. I guess I’ll just go back up to the lighthouse, and-”

Outside, the rain picked up.

“.. _Not_ look at space,” he finished, with a look of absolute despair at the dreary scene beyond the window.

A dark cloudy sky stretched out over the ocean, the wind and rain sending interminable waves crashing cold and hard onto the shore just outside of the beach house.

Steven sighed as he reminded himself that the guy’s one and only wish was to help, in some way. He could appreciate that - it was also _his_ own only wish.

“..Look. Ronaldo, why don’t you come wait with us till they get back?” Steven asked him, ignoring the meaningful looks his family were busy shooting him regarding this invitation as he smiled cheerfully up at the fryman. “We’re playing Go Fish while we wait for their call! C’mon, take off your coat, we’ll start a new game.”

“..Really?” he asked.

“Of course!” insisted Steven, beckoning him over to the table.

The gems still seated at the table all exchanged glances. Two seconds later Pearl sighed and pushed the cards in her hands together into a single stack, passing it to Amethyst as she stood up.

“Alright. How do you take your tea, Bloodfry?” she asked pleasantly.

“Have a seat,” said Garnet, picking up all the cards and shuffling them in order to deal everyone back in.

“Heeey, where’d you get that hat?” asked Amethyst with a genuine interest.

“Will the additional player make this ‘game’ easier, or longer?” wondered Peridot.

Steven smiled to himself as he watched them welcome Ronaldo to the table.

 

* * *

 

Meanwhile, in the elevated garden on the top of the alien arcology on the other side of the galaxy, Ulo was speaking.

“Why have you come here?”

Ulo was flanked by the levitating orb now, causing the humans below to feel very exposed. Onion backed away a few steps to hide behind Sadie, but remained within hearing range.

Connie took a breath to say something, but Nanefua placed a hand on her shoulder before facing the alien once more.

“Ulo, our allies have discovered you inhabit a zone that gems haven’t encroached into-”

“They did, once,” said Ulo simply. “A long time ago. You wish to know how we achieved that.”

“So.. it is your own doing?” asked Nanefua.

Ulo closed their eyes and nodded once.

The group of humans were stunned. What artificial measure could ever render the determined Yellow Diamond too afraid to return to such a resource-rich planet - much less star system?

It was as if Ulo could read their minds. They smiled - a scary affair, wide mouth full of sharpened teeth, like those of a shark. They held out a hand, and something materialized out of nowhere above it, dropping down into it.

The contraption - held out for them to take in - just looked like a plain orange cube.

“This device is both a weapon and a shield. It suppresses gem magic to the point where their bodies can no longer exist; their technology, rendered useless. It was our greatest achievement in the war for our planet’s continued independence from the gem empire.”

Connie frowned, trying to work out what all this meant. “So, wait. Can it target specific gems, or-”

“ _All_ gem magic and technology. Within a radius.”

“What kind of a radius?” she asked, uncertainty building.

“Depending on the size of your star system,” they shrugged, “That, possibly greater.”

“Blanket protection from gems,” breathed Priyanka. “All gems..” she had an inkling of how well this would sit with her daughter. A quick glance down at her poor little devastated face told her in no uncertain terms that she was correct.

Nanefua also looked troubled. “That is.. interesting. How does it work?” she asked. “How it is powered?”

“ _You_ wouldn’t understand,” said Ulo with an odd tone to their voice.

With a quick glance at the tall human that had given the scanner reason to doubletake earlier, Ulo then glanced down at the innocuous little cube in their hands. Taking each side in each hand, the alien pulled on it, causing it to extend into a rectangular shape.

The change it created in the fabric of space surrounding them was imperceptible to everyone - except for Lars.

A deep, loud roar filled his head out of nowhere. He instantly stumbled back, face contorted in a mixture of pain and confusion, but his legs quickly gave out and he dropped, quivering, landing hard on the ground. He rolled quickly onto his front, shuddering uncontrollably. Priyanka and Sadie turned to try to help him.

“Mr Barriga?” asked Nanefua, puzzled.

“Lars? What’s wrong?” Sadie asked in high tones, dropping down onto her knees next to him. She placed her hands on his back and shook him gently. “C’mon - _Lars?!_ ”

Priyanka rolled him onto his side and began checking his heart-rate - which, she soon realized, was pointless. “It could almost be.. cardiac failure? But he’s-” She looked frantic. She knew she had no way of helping him. “I-I have no idea what’s actually going on here,” she realized, terrified.

“h-hurt” was all Lars could manage, gasping, before lapsing back into silence as he attempted to deal with a kind of all-encompassing pain that he’d never felt before.

Ulo’s face hardened. They bared their sharp teeth at this display. “Liars! Why is it doing that if it is organic!?”

“Doing what!?” yelled Sadie from her position on the floor where she was attempting to comfort her shuddering and helpless on-again-off-again paramour. “You’re hurting him!”

“Why is the anomaly not destabilizing!?” demanded Ulo, pointing a hooked claw.

“WHAT!?” Sadie, staring at the alien, struggled to understand. It didn’t make sense to her.

But Connie understood. She ran toward the platform the alien was standing on, waving her arms around, yelling. “Stop! He's a magical organic, _not_ a gem! When that orb-thing blinked at us, it was checking for gemstones, wasn’t it? Well, he doesn’t have one! He won’t destabilize because he’s one of us! You’re just.. _hurting_ him! This is a normal organic response to pain on my planet - what about yours!?”

Ulo narrowed his eyes at the silent, downed human, and the others that were trying in vain to help him, clearly torn. “Then.. this _creature_ has been corrupted by gem trickery. You shouldn't trust it.”

“Of course we trust Lars!” Connie cried out, brow furrowed. “He’s great!”

“g’hhhh gkk” Lars at last managed to grunt again, his entire body unrelentingly tense and shaking as it foolishly and painfully attempted to retreat into a gemstone it didn’t possess.

Nanafua, with a look of consternation on her face, gestured toward Lars as she addressed Ulo. “Stop this! If this goes any further, it will count as a strike against Earth. You need to understand that we are working _with_ rebellious gems against the Diamond Authority. Gems who care about organic life like us. It's the only way our planet stands a chance.”

Ulo pushed the two sides back in so that it was a simple cube again. Lars instantly found himself able to relax. He rolled onto his back and breathed deeply a moment as what little was left of the pain took a few seconds longer to leave him. Sadie offered her hands to help him, and soon he was in a sitting position.

“Are you okay?” asked Priyanka, surprised. “How do you feel?”

“I’m.. fine?” came his reply, a little amazed now.

Sadie had an odd mixture of relief and uncertainty on her face as he made eye contact with her.

And suddenly everyone’s attention shifted back to Ulo; the alien was talking again.

“From our previous communication, we’ve gathered that your species happened to be the beneficiaries of a rebellion that occurred within your invader’s owns ranks. But, those same gems who saved you from extinction also did you a massive disservice. It made you soft. Weak.” He narrowed his dark eyes. “Dependant on them.”

“Wait - _what!?_ ” asked Connie, voice higher than usual. “We didn’t come all this way just to be hurt _and_ insulted-”

Ulo spread their arms wide. “Consider it an insult if you wish, but I mean it as more of a.. constructive criticism. You have that on your planet, don’t you?”

Connie glared at Ulo, nostrils flaring, but the nonhuman continued before she could reply.

“You never had a chance to learn how to defend yourselves properly because your enemy did it for you. In contrast, my kind worked diligently and ran the gem threat off ourselves. We have protected _ourselves_ efficiently ever since.”

“Fine, so you have,” said Connie, passionately speaking out of turn, “But if gems helped us humans, that only proves that gems can care about organic creatures, doesn’t it? That there are reasonable gems?”

Ulo shook their head gravely. “No,” they said. “There are no such thing as reasonable gems. It is embedded deep within the nature of those rocks from which they spring forth to use up resources and spread out across star systems until they have consumed everything.”

“That’s not entirely true-” Connie started to argue, but once again, was cut off as Ulo raised a hand and shook their head.

“No more talk. Here is my offer.”

Lars, still sitting next to Sadie who had a hand on his shoulder, narrowed his eyes as Sadie stared grimly. Nanefua watched with a furrowed brow and tight lips as the offer was explained.

“I will freely and gladly give you the technology required to solve the problem for your planet once and for all. Its range will be such that every gem who attempts to come into physical contact with your solar system will at once destabilize, all gem magic dissipated, leaving all your native life to live in peace.”

Connie started to argue, but the being held up a hand and continued.

“I understand that this is not what you wanted to discuss. However, we are not interested in aligning ourselves with such a weak species. Luckily for you, this technology will make an alliance between us completely unnecessary.”

Connie was reeling but couldn’t get a word in edgewise as Ulo continued.

“It will preclude gemkind from ever being a threat, much less a supposed _boon,_ to your way of life again. We extend this as a gift, from organic life to fellow organic life. We will accept nothing in return.”

The humans glanced at each other as Lars rose to his feet.

“I’ll leave you here a moment to think,” he said, and the little platform he stood on disappeared into the space in the floor with him on it.

In the silence that followed, Sadie gasped.

“Onion!” she called out. “What are you doing over there!?” she stomped over to reign him in again - at some point, he’d wandered over closer to the hole Ulo had just disappeared down into, peering down into it.

Meanwhile, Connie was speaking.

“Well,” she said, smiling as she turned back to the others. “That was short and sweet, right? Let’s get _the everloving fudge_ outta here.”

She was surprised to notice Lars and her mother frowning down at her, and Nanefua looking thoughtful as she stroked her chin lightly.

“Mom?” she asked in mild alarm.

“Honey-” Priyanka began in an apologetic tone.

Connie baulked and took a step toward Nanefua. “Mayor Pizza, ma’am, we can’t really be considering this? Are we going to kick all the gems off Earth? This.. this will mean none of the gems will be able to live there anymore. Look what it did to Lars - Who knows what would happen to Steven! Steven, Lars and Lion will have to move to space forever! They'll be refugees. In space! Their families will be devastated. Everyone will! We.. we.. can’t do this.”

Nanefua gazed at her. “Miss Maheswaran. I know. But the issue is more complex than that. It’s our whole planet that we must think about. We must consider it from all angles.”

Connie looked up at her mother again. “Mom!? Don’t tell me you want to do this! The Crystal Gems are our _friends!_ You’ve had dinner with them.. sort of! You know them!”

Priyanka frowned. “Honey - one weird dinner that fell apart fast isn’t worth the only planet we have.”

Connie screwed up her forehead, entirely frustrated. “It wasn’t ONE WEIRD DINNER. They are your friends, aren’t they?”

Priyanka spread her arms wide, becoming exasperated. “Of course they are! But this isn’t about that!”

Sadie pointed at Connie, butting in. “For what it’s worth, I agree with her. We can’t screw them like this. Right, Lars?”

Lars raised an eyebrow at Sadie in surprise. “Huh?”

“The.. thing?” replied Sadie, looking concerned now. “We shouldn’t do it, right?”

Lars looked awkward. “Uhh, no. Sadie, I think we _should_ do it.”

“What!?” Sadie looked intensely confused. “Did you just.. zone out during that whole thing? This isn’t _school,_ Lars! Didn’t you listen to what that weird guy was saying?”

He frowned. “I was _listening_! This seems like a good idea to me.”

Connie stood stock still for a moment, struggling to understand what she just heard. She eventually frowned up at the tall dude. “ _Lawrence,_ do you just like to annoy me sometimes?”

Lars rolled his eyes hard. “Yeah, _Constance_. It’s my main goal in life.”

“My name’s not Constance!”

“Mine isn’t Lawrence! Seriously; it won't be our first choice, more like a Plan Z or something. What if we have to put down an angry Cluster.. or a brand new invasion! We need it in case there's, like, no good ending for Earth.”

Priyanka snapped her fingers and pointed at Lars. “Yes! That. I agree with that.”

“Thanks, Dr Maheswaran.”

Connie was visibly offended by the whole idea. “Mom, please.” Then, at Lars; “Didn’t you notice that thing _completely incapacitate you!?_ Didn’t you hear the part with you and Steven and the gems not being able to, _like,_ live on Earth anymore?”

Lars nodded. “Yeah, I did, and it sucks big time! But.. it’s for the Earth. _Like._ ”

Connie gave Lars an incredibly dirty look.

“I could provide free energy to every country on Earth if only I could HARNESS the POWER of the HEADACHE you’re giving me, Lars!” Connie narrowed her eyes at him before addressing everyone nearby. “This whole idea reeks of condescension - it shows that these _goblins_ don’t think we can look after ourselves. That we need their stupid gem magic canceler to protect Earth and the rest of the solar system for us while we humans just sit around, whittling away our boring little lives.”

She bit her lip, suddenly, the truth of it all dawning on her. “They think we’re _zoomans_.”

Lars spread his arms wide. “So?” He said like it was the most obvious thing on this, or any world. “We are!”

“Lars! Ulo hurt you on purpose. He.. she? _They_ knew what they were doing! I saw how they looked right at you before they did the thing.”

“Who cares!? They’re right. The only reason we have the slim chance at winning _our own planet_ is because of the help we’re getting from the gems, and maybe from this jerk as well. We’re weak. We’ve been coddled and protected by the Crystal Gems ever since _the late stone age_ and I hate to say it, but we need every contingency plan we can lay our desperate friggin’ hands on.”

Connie spat a little. “’We?’ C’mon. You’re barely even human anymore!”

He spun on her. “STOP saying that!”

Connie blinked, wondering if perhaps she’d taken it too far. She jumped to defend herself. “Look - literally the only time I’ve ever said it. And.. um, sorry.”

Lars grit his teeth, blushing, highly embarrassed about his little projection, but it sure stung to hear. Sadie moved closer to him, wringing her hands awkwardly. “Hey, Lars, it’s okay. She didn’t mean it, right?”

“Miss Maheswaran, Mr Barriga, please. Stop this tom-foolery!” Nanefua barreled her way in between the two. “We can not afford to become emotional. We need to discuss this objectively, without becoming upset-”

“That’s exactly what I’ve been trying to do,” argued Lars.

Connie frowned. “HE isn’t listening!”

“Some of my best friends these days are gems,” he retorted. “You don’t think I wanna see them all living on Earth someday?”

“They won’t believe that if we do this to them. Even if we never throw the switch, it’s still a massive-”

“Connie! They’ll understand!”

She balled her fists so hard, her knuckles paled. “They WON’T. You’re talking about casting them out. Casting yourself out, and Steven! Of course there’s a better way - we just have to find it! You’re being an idiot.”

At this, Lars grit his teeth and threw up his arms.

He turned to the adults most of whom had up until now just been following along. “Listen! I know everyone in town thinks I’m some burnout loser who got held back, and got caught stealing, but I’m not that stupid kid anymore. I’ve seen some shit! And.. I think we should do this. Recommend it, even!”

Sadie grabbed his hand in an attempt to calm him down. “Lars-”

But he snatched it back. “Sadie, please. Do you guys realize how extinct we’d all BE right now if it wasn’t for Steven’s mom deciding out of nowhere that dumb animals like us were ‘pretty cool’, probably? How lucky are we that she happened to be on Earth at the time! Do you even know what a completed gem colony looks like!? It’s.. devastation. They strip _everything_ and think _nothing_ of annihilating whatever life was already there in the process.”

Somehow, as he looked at the now-horrified faces that stared back at him, he felt like he was the insane one for needing to explain it all like this. He folded his arms as he continued.

“They make it so that nothing can ever grow again. Even weather wouldn’t be a thing anymore. I’ve seen it,” here, his gaze shifted to Connie. “And I _know_ you have too.”

There was a moment here where no one seemed exactly sure of what to say. Sadie in particular looked sheepish.

Nanefua spoke up. “Thank you for your thoughtful assessment of the situation, Mr Barriga. I appreciate your honesty. I have weighed your words very carefully, and those of Miss Maheswaran too.”

When she leveled her perspective, it was without hesitation.

“I argue that we turn down this gift today. I feel strongly that we shouldn’t accept it, at least not without the knowledge of the Crystal Gems and our allies in space, possibly not even with their knowledge either.”

Lars spoke quietly. “But I’m one of those who stand to lose the most out of anyone if we do this, and I still want to. Doesn’t that mean anything?”

“Lars. Of course it means something,” said Connie.

“It means you’re a very brave and selfless man, Mr Barriga,” said Nanefua. “But as I see it, this is ride or die.”

She turned to face him and despite the fact that he towered over the little old woman, he quailed.

“We’ve all heard about what you’ve done during your time in space. What you went through to set up this whole situation that ultimately has led us to this point - it must have been hard, being alone and away from everything familiar to you.” The passion in her tone was unmistakable. “I _never_ wanted that for you. I _don’t_ want that for anyone. You see, I would much rather live in a world where we work together, without sacrificing one another. All of us. Human, gem.. _Everyone_ who calls the Earth their home.”

She spread her hands out before her. “Don’t you? Wouldn’t you rather live there too?”

Scratching the back of his neck, he hesitated. “I mean. I _guess.._ ” suddenly he found himself nodding. “Yeah, okay. I, I wanna live there too.”

He glanced at Connie to find her smiling widely at him. “I can’t wait to not do this thing with you,” she smiled, then turned to look at her mother. “Mom..?”

Priyanka’s eyes, however, remained troubled. “This is the Trolley Dilemma, writ large,” she murmured at last. “Do you act, and sacrifice one to save five?” She stared up at the alien sky as if that could ever provide the answer to the classic thought experiment.

But she knew the cosmos didn’t care.

Priyanka dropped her eyes to stare down at her beautiful daughter, eyes wide, unable to reconcile the opposing ideas being thrown so carelessly around her.

“..Or do you let events play out.” She furrowed her brow. “And.. and either way, how will you sleep knowing what you did.. or could have done..”

It was _insane_ , all of this. In her mind, no matter which way the pendulum swung, she saw a bleak future.

“Mom,” Connie took a step toward her, her expression soft, now. Her voice a little choked up. “I hate to-” she took a breath. “I mean, it’s bad enough that it’s Steven and Lars, but.. given enough time, it could be.. anyone.” She shrugged, looking away. She hesitated. She didn’t want to play this card - but she didn’t realize she already had.

Despite the promise she’d drawn from her daughter months earlier, Priyanka couldn’t help but wake up sometimes at night, in a cold sweat, sobbing into Doug’s chest with the visage of her daughter - awash in tones of pink, eyes magenta - lingering in her inner vision like a startling apparition from a realm of torment she wanted no part of.

But the thought of a world without her only child - whatever that meant - was a far wider misery.

The solution was suddenly clear to her.

“There’ll be another way to save the Earth - for everyone,” Connie’s conviction rang through like a bell. “I don’t know what it is yet, but we’ll find it.”

“Okay, my girl, I’m with you.” Priyanka smiled shakily. “I will always be with you.”

Connie smiled softly up at her. “Thanks, mom.”

The bodyguards agreed as well - and the vote turned out to be unanimous after all.

When Ulo returned, Nanefua delivered the news. “Ulo, we thank you. But we must decline your offer. Gems and humans are inextricable at this point. If we are unsuccessful, our allies’ fate is similar to our own. If however we win, it will be because we worked together.”

Ulo’s face was unreadable as they considered Nanefua’s words.

“Foolish,” came their verdict at last. They then waved a hand dismissively. “Well, the offer will still stand when you come to your senses. Farewell.”

With that, the alien dropped back down into the inner sanctums of the arcology. The hole shortly closed over once again, signaling the end of this meeting.

“I.. guess that means they’re done?” asked Connie.

“Well,” said Nanefua after a moment. “That _was_ short and sweet, after all. Great job, everyone!”

Connie turned to lead everyone back to the Roaming Eye. “Augh. Let’s go home. The sooner we get outta here, the better.”

Priyanka watched her bold, decisive daughter silently for a moment before following along.

It was Sadie who, mid-turn, noticed something. She paled instantly. “Hey, uh. Where did Onion go?”

Everyone stopped and looked around, but there was no sign of Onion anywhere nearby. Around them, they saw only alien gardens with trees and shrubs planted tidily on this square platform at the top of the steppe pyramid they were standing on.

Plenty of places for a cheeky little troublemaker to hide.

“Uhhhhh..” Connie was at a loss.

“Okay, everyone, don’t panic-” called Nanefua.

“We need to split up,” said Priyanka, mother-instincts on full throttle. “Fan out and look everywhere!”

 

* * *

 

The search for the kid dragged on longer than anyone wanted it to. The good news was that they were running out of places to look.

But every single one of the searchers was aware that that could also quickly become bad news as well.

Sadie and Connie were already looking out over the edge of the platform - walking the perimeter while scanning the pyramid’s next step from above for signs of little boys. It was quite a long drop down; roughly twenty yards, they guessed, so every moment they didn’t spot the kid down there was a happy moment.

But not really.

“I was the last one to have him! I had his little hand in mine!” Sadie despaired to herself. “How did I lose Sour Cream’s little brother on the top of an alien pyramid in space!? How does that even HAPPEN? There.. isn’t even anywhere for him to _go!_ I’m such a fu-”

“Sadie!”

“Ah! Sorry,” Sadie looked even more guilty. “I don’t usually swear around children. I.. guess I don’t think of you as a child anymore.”

“I get that a lot,” said Connie as she set her jaw firmly. “Listen, we’ll find him. And it’s not your fault - I sort of think Onion might have behavioral problems. I mean, he stowed away to come here in the first place.”

“I watched that kid steal from The Big Donut for months - of course he does! But there’s no excuse for a bunch of _adults_ losing track of him - _in space_ no less!” Then, fingers tense, she groaned loudly. “What if he jumped into the door-hole that Hoola or whatever floated out of on that thing?”

Connie blinked. “Oh.. do you think he could have? I’ll.. go check for a doorbell? You keep searching!”

The younger girl ran off through the garden as Sadie continued walking, searching, and beating herself up over it all.

 

* * *

 

Not too far away, Lars was checking some bushes for signs of tiny humans when he felt a tug on the back of his pant leg. He immediately spun around to deal with whatever was assaulting him, and when he saw it was just the little kid, it didn’t make him any less tense.

“Shit!” he jumped. Then, quieter, “Onion - where were you? Everyone’s losing their minds looking for you-”

Lars was compelled to go silent as the unblinking Onion, who had always creeped him out a little, held a finger up to his own lips. Lars suddenly noticed the little guy had something hidden in his shirt. A heavy feeling washed over him as Onion began to pull it out.

His heart, despite being pretty slow these days, leapt into his throat. It was the small orange cube-shaped piece of alien area of effect technology that could easily ruin his whole life in an instant.

The gem magic canceler.

“..Oh,” was all Lars could bring himself to utter as Onion held it out toward him. He crouched and the little guy placed it in the pink guy’s numb hand when the latter automatically reached out to take it.

“Muh muh muhmuhmuh muhmuh?” asked Onion.

“Wazzat? You.. just wanna watch the world burn?”

Onion frowned and shook his head. “Muhmuh MUH muh muhmuhmuh _muh._ ”

Lars felt like he understood. “Okay, okay. The _opposite_. Right.” He frowned. “Me.. too.”

He stiffened as Onion suddenly looked past him and he heard someone approaching from behind - quickly and in one fluid movement, he stowed the thing in the only place he could think of to keep it, for now; his forehead.

“Lars! You found him!” said Sadie as she jogged over to take Onion by the hand.

Lars hesitated, but Onion nodded up at him as if giving him permission to take the win.

“Yuh-huh!” Lars’ voice was higher than usual as turned to face her. “That’s me! Lars Barriga - Finder of Pre-Schoolers.”

She smirked at him fondly. “You’re a dingus.” She turned her attention down to the little guy. “C’mon, Onion. Let’s get you back to your family. Your mom and dad will be so worried! Not to mention poor Sour Cream! He’ll be beside himself - lighting candles, weeping.. making fresh beats from of the rhythm of teardrops hitting the pillow, hopefully.”

Onion chuckled at the visual and walked through the garden towards the Roaming Eye with her.

Lars swallowed as he followed along behind them, floundering a little. “S.. Sadie, uh.. Kinda weird how we came all this way for nothing, right?”

Sadie shot him a smile. “You mean how _you_ and Peridot came all this way, and then we all just popped out of your hair like giant lice when your ship was close?”

“Uh.. Yeah.”

Sadie shrugged. “Well, we kept it realistic at the meeting. We didn’t know what to expect, so of course we considered the idea that maybe we’d walk with nothing. But.. it was worth a trip and a conversation for the off chance there was something that could help us. There was a vote and everything.”

“Oh..” he said. “Okay. Cool.”

A weird silence passed as they made their way back toward the Roaming Eye.

“Are you okay?” she asked finally. “It was really scary when you were on the ground, shaking like that..”

“Yeah, it sucked,” came his brief reply. “I’m fine now.”

She smiled softly to herself. He was just sad they were going to be parting ways again soon, she reasoned. To be honest, she was sad about it too.

He shortly spoke up, “So, what do you think of space? Real space, I mean; not that fake Norwegian space the other week.”

She perked up. “You know what? Pretty cool, actually!” She blinked suddenly, and frowned. “I guess that’s a little different to what _you_ must think of it, given you’re a guy who had to run for his life through it.”

He shrugged. She noticed his reticence and hesitated briefly before continuing. “A-all the stuff you’ve seen. You’ve.. obviously racked up a lot of XP for having done all that.” She sighed. “You know, if you’d kept arguing, I likely would’ve sided with you.”

They walked in silence for a long moment before she piped up again.

“You understand why I didn’t, right?” she asked in a soft voice.

“Of course,” he made himself smile, wanting beyond want to keep this conversation light. “But hey, don’t worry. If you ever have to run for your life, whether in space or on Earth, I’ll help you.”

She smiled back up at him.

“I know.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Another talker. There’ll be a bit more action in the last two chapters of this arc but this stuff has to take place too!
> 
> Priyanka, providing a healthy dose of Adult Fear once again. :)
> 
> The aliens in this chapter are also inspired by a Guild Wars 2 race - the asura, who unlike the heket that the frogmen were based on, are a playable race and they’re my absolute fave. They’re so damned ugly-cute and arrogant.
> 
> This is a very different chapter to all the others and I’m not sure if it’s going to be anyone’s favorite ever, but stuff like this interests me. 
> 
> In essence, I wanted to contrast the frogmen of chapters 11/12 with the goblins - a more civilized and advanced species that had encountered gems in the past and found another extremely effective way to deal with them.
> 
> In my mind:
> 
> 1 - Connie was always going to be strongly against because she loves Steven and the gems and L&L. She could never bring herself to say yes to anything like this. In her eyes, it’s a vicious betrayal when she absolutely -knows- they have the power to win without it. She’s too pure for this horrible AU. *sob*
> 
> 2 - Sadie was easy. XD She loves Lars, Steven gives her life, and she knows she can kick a gem’s ass if she needs to. But I think Lars could have talked her into it.
> 
> 3 - Lars was always going to want to accept, even if he screws himself. He’s a realist who already died once and doesn’t want that for anyone esp his family and Sadie and his friends. He wants the gems to be on Earth at the end of all this of course, but he also knows Steven and the CGs at least want what’s best for the Earth. He saw it as a crappy form of insurance, basically.
> 
> 5 - Priyanka was kinda hard to pin down for a while. She’s a doctor so one can assume she is pretty smart, and she’s also a mother which made her the hardest to convince, even harder than Lars, but once I figured out how to do it, it was easy although it went to a pretty dark place on the way there. As an aside, I love ethics-related thought experiments; They fuck me up inside.
> 
> 4 - ..Uh, but I wasn’t sure what Nanefua was going to do for a long, long time. In the end, from what I gather about Nanefua from the Pufferfish episode and her election campaign platform, she has some pretty sound morals, is willing to accept and include everyone, and doesn’t screw anyone over. Especially not the very gems that, y’know, sacrificed everything to save her planet and her species _and she’s welcome_. In my mind, she would have given it the due consideration it deserves, but never have accepted the offer.
> 
> and 5 - Of course Onion is going to steal it anyway. I considered having Lars steal it, but at this point in the story I really wanted Lars to be able to believe in Nanefua after she explained her stuff. Onion however is a chaotic wildcard and I guess he saw how hard Lars argued in favor of it while he did and felt for the guy.
> 
> I kinda feel that I could have gotten into how humans are more than capable of ruining their own planet either way - Do we even deserve our own salvation? But then that’s more nonfiction than fiction, I guess - let’s not get bogged down in all that XD
> 
> At least Steven gets to have a breather, however much he wanted to be part of the mission, and he also leveled with Ronaldo while he’s at it. I hope it implies that Ronaldo’s been bugging him a lot about space recently. Maybe that’s one less thing Steven has on his mind now too.
> 
> Too bad it won’t matter for long. >:D


	22. The Struggle Internal.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> If you ever feel okay
> 
> If you start to feel like you’re getting on
> 
> Just wait five minutes.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Uhhh.. this chapter goes a little darker than usual? I feel like I should mention this.. for anyone who might need a warning.

Pearl failed for the third time to just.. open the door of the Dondai. It was parked outside a café in a dusky Ocean Town street, and the action should have been a simple movement well within her ability as an extremely competent gem.

Instead, she remained seated in the passenger seat, leaning heavily back into it as though it would make the evening ahead any easier. Greg, who had been waiting patiently in the driver’s seat with his hands on the steering wheel, finally spoke up.

“You _can_ do this,” he suggested softly.

Her eyes merely flicked over to regard him and he shrugged, feeling kind of awkward in this one-sided conversation. “I mean, you’re _allowed_ to, if that’s what the problem is.”

After a moment, she touched her index fingers together meekly and said in a quiet voice, “No.. no. This has been a huge mistake. I can’t believe I thought that this would be an appropriate use of my time-” she raised a hand to rub her forehead around her gem. “Let’s.. just go back.”

Greg shrugged slightly. “Well, if you want. Heaven knows I’m not the boss of you,” he lowered his voice. “But if you don’t do this, I think you’re going to regret it.”

 _What’s one more regret,_ she wondered miserably. There already were so many.

“Y’know what?”

“What?”

“Remember the other day? You were trying to multitask vacuuming and ironing but got tangled in the cord and nearly ended up falling but you managed to save it with a pirouette in case someone was watching?”

Pearl’s eyes were wide.

“Well - I was watching.”

Pearl gasped. “You wHA-”

“And I thought to myself - now, _there’s_ someone who deserves happiness.” He shrugged. “Fine, so it won’t happen tonight, but so what? It’s not the end of the world - it’s a start. And you’ll be allowed to try again, as many times as you need to.”

A silence hung between them on the air for a moment before Greg glanced at her, a questioning look on his face. He wanted so badly for Pearl to realize this. “You.. _know_ that, right?”

“There are so many other things I could be doing-” she began with a hint of frustration to her tone. Greg shook his head, but she continued. “I could be reticulating splines on the new thrusters right now-”

Greg cut her off.

“The whole space-diamond-Zoo situation will still be there in the morning,” he reminded her. She shot him a dry look, but that couldn’t stop him from doing his damnedest for her.

“Who can say the same of this mystery girl of yours?” he added with a sly smile.

 

* * *

 

The decision to get out of the car eventually happened due in no small part to Greg’s encouragement, and soon enough, Pearl had entered the café. She was just in her own everyday wear after having shot down all of Amethyst and Steven’s suggestions to change up her look a little; she was comfortable in her natural form without being weighed down by what she sometimes used to consider smelly rags when she was more prone to moods of misanthropy, but that was the old Pearl. These days, her only argument was that comfort was important to her in this otherwise deeply uncomfortable situation.

She was excited though - curious, even - and yet entirely blindsided when she saw a deep purple-haired woman waving at her from one of the tables in the midst of the hubbub and activity that was going on around her.

Pearl glanced around, but a doubletake smacked her with the belated realization - it was her!

Somewhat taken aback at first, Pearl then felt a little silly. She _knew_ about hair dye. Steven’s friend Sadie had gone green a while back, and despite it being slightly jarring, it hadn’t really bothered her. Then again, Sadie had never really once reminded her of Rose. She felt foolish in the wake of this realization, and walked over.

“Sheena, hello! I didn’t recognize-” she cut herself off as she approached. “I mean, your hair-”

“Don’t you love it?” Sheena smiled up at her, talking in her warm, slightly gravelly tone. “I saw the color and _literally_ shrieked.”

Pearl blinked. She considered shrieking a bit of an overreaction for a moment before coming to the understanding that it was just an exaggeration. “Oh, of course! It _is_ lovely,” she smiled back and took a seat when Sheena gestured at the chair opposite her.

“I hope you don’t mind, I ordered us garlic bread.”

Pearl looked a little awkward, and it hit Sheena all at once. She raised her eyebrows suddenly and smacked a hand into her face.

“..And you’re a gem. You don’t need to eat.” She closed her eyes, exhaling in an exasperated manner - but only at herself. “Oh, no, I’m so embarrassed..”

“No, no, don’t be. My body _is_ capable of eating, but I don’t like to. You go ahead, of course. I’d never deprive you or anyone else of what you need to survive.” She laughed politely. “I’m a _gem_ \- not a monster.”

Sheena looked at Pearl with a furrow in her brow. “Won’t it be weird?”

Everything about this human dating ritual was weird to Pearl, but she smiled softly anyway. “Of course not, go ahead.”

“No no, it’s weird, isn’t it?” Sheena gestured at Pearl. “You’ll just be sitting there watching me stuff my face - no. Screw _dinner_ \- let’s do something else.”

Pearl was taken aback. “Wait! You need food to _live!_ When was the last time you ate!?”

Sheena smiled at the bizarre yet cute overreaction. “Know what? I.. think I’ll manage at least a couple extra hours.” She shuffled up further in her seat, her attention focused solely on Pearl as she asked; “What do you like to do?”

“Aaaah..” Pearl frowned. This was something she never really had to think about before. After a couple of moments worth of thought, she gave a small smile. “Well, I generally like to keep tidy.”

While Sheena could appreciate this, it wasn’t really relevant to what she was actually asking. “Do you like movies?”

Pearl frowned and glanced upwards, giving the question due consideration. “Hmm.. That depends on the movie.”

Sheena moved on. “Bowling?”

Pearl made an uncertain face at that one. Those _shoes_ they often made one wear. Foot-bindings were horrible to fight in and, in Pearl’s experience, the need to fight could arise at any moment in time. Especially in a bowling alley, if the late 1950’s had taught her anything.

Sheena went back to the figurative drawing board, and suddenly she had it. “You know what?” she smiled, “There’s an indoor mini-golf down the road. I haven’t played in years.”

“Oh! The game where one aims to carefully and methodically return a ball back to its ideally-sized hole with as few strikes as possible, using only a specialized club and one’s own mathematical prowess!” exclaimed Pearl, looking delighted with the idea. “And they often serve food as well! It’s perfect!”

Sheena suspected that she’d hit the jackpot with this one. When the garlic bread came, she immediately asked for the check.

 

* * *

 

Millions of lightyears away in the dead void of space, a construction project was moving forward with utmost efficiency in a shallow canyon on a rogue planet.

“14RA?” asked an Era One peridot as she tapped with an index touchstump at a levitating screen in front of her.

When no answer came, she spun around to glare bad-temperedly at the line of citrines awaiting their orders for the upcoming cycle. She glanced up and down the line and shortly her visionspheres came to rest on one of them. She frowned meaningfully, which drew a reaction from the singled-out quartz.

“She’s.. not here?” the citrine soldier blinked in surprise, glancing up and down the line of familiar faces. However, the one in question just wasn’t there.

Peridot stared blankly for a moment before she exclaimed; “Don’t tell me your _leader_ has run off now, too!”

The quartzes didn’t know what to say - they had confusion written all over their yellow faces.

“But, wasn’t she just _here?!_ ” one of them stammered in disbelief.

Peridot balled a fist and rolled her eyes. “Sure,” she said, her own features awash in irritable doubt. She was unsure of how she was going to explain this latest disappearance to Yellow Diamond later, but for now she had to focus on the task at hand.

“Regardless, we need to begin progress on this quadrant,” she paced a little, arms behind her back as she glanced at the screen which hovered in front of her. “You know the drill - the deeper you lot make this ditch, the more new gems that can be put into production here.”

Out of the corner of her visionsphere, she noticed something.. odd.

Did one of the quartzes in front of her just.. _disappear_ straight into the ground!?

The citrines on either side of the sudden gap in their ranks glanced at it in deep confusion, and Peridot watched in rising alarm as a large number of strange grasping vines shot out of the ground, and grabbed the rest of them by their legs.

Peridot stumbled backwards, watching with widened visionspheres as the entire squad of soldiers before her were pulled down beneath the surface. They struggled and cried out - of course they did, how could they not? - but the strength of even these huge quartzes seemed incomparable to that of whatever had them in its relentless grasp.

The last of them was at last pulled completely under the surface of the planet - her reaching, screaming figure emblazoned itself upon Peridot’s mind.

Mouth frozen open in a silent scream, she threw down her screen, turned, and ran.

She ran aimlessly through the canyon, down some stairs that had been recently hacked out of it upon completion of the quadrant she’d now entered, to find the peridots and other worker gems down there in the process of being sucked down into the planet’s crust as well. One of them, another citrine, had also managed to avoid the grip of the grasping horror and when she spotted Peridot, she sprinted over.

“Hey - you! Peridot! Wait!”

“No! Just.. fight them like you’re supposed to!” ordered Peridot, without even turning to see what was going on.

“F-fight what, exactly!?” the citrine cried out as she jumped to avoid one of the things that had snaked out of the ground in front of her, as if it had anticipated her movements. She gave it a wide berth, and when she made her way back over to Peridot, the two of them continued running together.

As they ran deeper into the canyon, they saw that it was happening everywhere. Kindergarteners and technicians were being yanked from the controls of gem injectors and mercilessly sucked down into the ground, leaving dark, sinister holes that looked nothing like the normal exit-holes befitting a proper kindergarten.

The citrine that was running with her gasped suddenly. She recognized one of the distressed gems nearby, waist-deep and sinking further despite her struggles to the contrary.

“15RJ!” she cried as she changed direction and upped her speed, dashing frantically toward her screaming friend - but she got there too late and collapsed onto her hands over the hole that Jay had just been sucked down into.

“ _Jay-_ ” she heaved as she peered uselessly into the hole left in her wake, forgetting about her own terrible danger. As a result, she herself also soon disappeared into the ground by way of those unknowable vines.

A sob caught in Peridot’s throat. She’d foolishly chosen to watch the random citrine attempt to save her friend, which meant that she’d stopped briefly herself in this now-empty quadrant of the canyon. When she went to try to move again, she found that she couldn’t. She glanced down at the rope-like, featureless horror that was quickly snaking its way up her leg.

She gasped and tried to get free, but it was strong. She found with an ever-rising terror that she couldn’t resist as it began to drag her under.

She railed uselessly against the crust of the planet as it razed and tore at the surface of her physical form, but there was nothing she could do.

The deeper she was pulled, the more the open hole above began to fill up with larger and larger rocks behind her. The longer this went on, the more pressure was placed upon her physical construct.

It was a mercy when her form finally destabilized.

The horror simply backtracked slightly and, having coiled itself around the gemstone, resumed dragging it downward through the planet’s crust towards its central organism which, by now, was emblazoned with gemstones; soaking itself in their raw power.

 

* * *

 

A mountain of troubling reports labeled ‘crisis’ had started filtering in slowly, at first, from all over the planet. The frequency and the urgency of them soon snowballed at an exponential rate.

Then, as sharply as they had risen, the figures went back down.

Yellow Diamond, from her arm ship in low orbit, quickly found herself demanding a total evacuation from the planet.

The following hours saw her take stock of the situation. Patchy, pieced-together accounts from fleeing, terrified gems had to do at first - and she was sorely disappointed by the amount of her gems that had managed to retreat via the dropships. The number remaining was far, far less than half of what she’d sent down there over the last few months of managing this entire affair.

“All those resources-” she muttered bitterly. “All those perfectly good _gems_.”

All for nothing.

Yellow Diamond’s Pearl shared her anguish. Wanting only to comfort her diamond, she approached timidly. “My Diamond, I-”

“Pearl,” Yellow said suddenly, with a deceptive calmness to her voice. She’d made a decision. “We need the geoweapon from _Earth_.”

She narrowed her eyes as she pushed that final word through clenched teeth.

Yellow Diamond’s Pearl at once was all business. “Yes, My Diamond! If you like, I can alert Blue Diamond-”

“No..” Yellow frowned. “Don’t tell Blue just yet. First, where did the Jade report originate from?”

“Sigma III,” replied Yellow Diamond’s Pearl.

The rogue planet beneath them, now totally devoid of conscious gems, continued rolling on its merry way through the cosmos as Yellow turned her attention toward cold retribution.

 

* * *

 

“It’s his birthday next month,” Dante was saying as he handed Steven a little box with an envelope stuck down to it. They were standing in the living room of the Barriga household in the middle of the day.

Steven and Connie gasped up at him. “Oh my gosh, really?” said Connie, “That’s so cool!”

Dante shrugged. “I’ve asked in the letter if maybe his mother and I could videochat with him.”

Steven smiled widely. “Yeah! Of course you can! You can use the line at my house for that, anytime!”

Connie coughed meaningfully into her hand.

“..Within reasonable hours. And, uh, you have to clear it with me or one of the gems, first,” he added, almost sounding apologetic. “I mean, it _is_ in my livingroom..”

“Of course?” Dante raised an eyebrow and glanced at the boy over his glasses. “That’s entirely reasonable. I’d.. never dream of entering your house without your permission, Steven.”

“S. Sorry. I’m setting definite boundaries with people now,” he said by way of explanation. It had been a suggestion from his therapist, and it was hard to remember to do.

“Oh.” Dante smiled. “Well, thank you. But, listen. If he talks to you about it.. can you do me a favor and gently encourage him? But don’t push him. He doesn’t respond well to that.”

Steven chuckled a little and nodded. “I’ve read the rulebook several times, now.”

Connie smirked. “Handle With Care, right?”

“Laramie was always a.. sensitive boy.” Dante said, his voice taking on a nostalgic quality. “But don’t say anything to Martha. I want it to be a surprise.. if it even happens.” He frowned suddenly. “He hasn’t been open to it so far.”

Steven scratched the back of his head and shrugged. “Yeah, I’m guessing he must feel weird about how he looks, now.”

“Sadie showed us the photos she took of him.”

“And?”

Dante shook his head and smiled wistfully. “Doesn’t matter. He’s still our boy.”

 

* * *

 

 “The senior Mr Barriga is so wholesome and pure, my only wish for him is that he is happy,” Connie said shortly as the front door of the Barriga household swung shut behind them and they descended the stairs to the sidewalk. It was a chillier sort of day, but the sun was out and it wasn’t raining for once. Birdsong filled the air in this little slice of seaside suburbia.

“And I can’t believe Lars is going to be twenty soon! That’s real adulthood right there.” Then, in a wondering way, she added; “I wonder if he’ll ever get his earlobes fixed.”

Steven did some completely unnecessary finger maths. “I think he’ll be nineteen.”

Connie nodded quickly, suddenly remembering a conversation they’d had with him once, back when this whole thing started. “Oh yeah. Well, that’s still super-duper old.”

Steven gave her a look of mock outrage. “ _I’ll_ be nineteen in less than four years, you know!”

“Well then you’ll be really old in four years, too!”

“What about you?”

“Oh, Steven. You don’t need to worry, I’ll never be as old as you,” she smiled. “But I’ll always be taller!”

She booped him on the nose, giggled, and ran off down the road.

Steven took a moment to wiggle his nose, but he was a resilient young man - he recovered quickly from the vicious attack.

“What! No you won’t!” he cried out with a laugh as he ran after her.

 

* * *

 

Amethyst lowered her newspaper to stare at Pearl, who was also invested in her own newspaper.

“It’s rude to stare,” said Pearl, very matter-of-factly.

The two gems were seated at the kitchen counter in the beach house - otherwise empty except for Pumpkin and Cat Steven who were chasing each other around the place with abandon.

“You said you’d tell me how it went! That was days ago now, and I’m done with being patient!” Amethyst said loudly. “Soooo done! Just friggin’ give up the gossip already - I’m dying over here!”

“Well-” Pearl replied coyly at first, but it was all gone by the time she said her second word. She put the newspaper down. “We went minigolfing!”

Amethyst bared her teeth in an awkward grimace. “Minigolfing. With.. the cool chick from the show.”

Pearl turned to Amethyst fully now and smiled with an air of utmost confidence. “Come now - you say that with a level of disbelief I just don’t accept. It was even her idea.”

“Hoo boy,” Amethyst slapped a hand to her face and peered out at her from between two fingers. “Did you at least.. let her win?”

“You know..” Pearl stroked her chin thoughtfully, “The more I think about it, I suspect she was trying to let _me_ win.” She leveled with Amethyst for a moment. “We both did terribly.”

Amethyst snorted loudly and fell into laughter. She gazed up at Pearl fondly as he smacked her knee in appreciation of her. “P, you’re an absolute loose unit.”

Pearl didn’t know what to make of all this at first. Moments later, though, she was smiling. “Well, whatever _that_ means, it must have been okay since she wants to meet up again soon.”

“Really?!” Amethyst was impressed. “What do you think you nerds’ll get up to next time? Puzzles? _Bingo?_ ”

“Honestly, who can say. I may even just sit around watching her eat.”

 

* * *

 

The fact that it was a star-filled night didn’t matter; the interior of the administrative basilica floating in the sky above Sigma III was lit up with a diffuse glow all the same.

It was empty of visiting dignitaries in the expansive central chamber at present, but all the same it did play host to a small gathering of gems.

A topaz guard stood, face impassive, holding a quivering fusion in front of her by the shoulders.

At her desk in the center of the chamber sat Jade and next to her, her trusted lime Pearl.

“Thank you, Topaz,” Jade said impassively. “You may go.”

The topaz released the fusion, pushing her down onto her knees in the process, and turned to leave. After the doors had closed behind her, Jade stared down her nose at them.

“Unfuse,” she ordered.

The fusion swallowed and obeyed. The component gems revealed themselves to be a nephrite and a pastel-yellow pearl who, although trembling and afraid, couldn’t seem to bring themselves to let go of each others hands as they knelt together before her.

The display ripped Jade up inside. She wished it didn’t have to be this way.

Either way, she kept her voice cold. “You were caught, illegally fused and attempting to steal a ship, were you not?” she hesitated, monitoring their reactions.

The visionspheres of both criminals were on the floor beneath them as they nodded silently, shamed by all this.

Jade’s conviction wasn’t in this at all. “Explain yourselves,” she asked of them in a flat tone.

“I, I-” uttered the pearl, too terrified to go any further.

The nephrite squeezed her partner’s hand and straightened herself a little, addressing Jade directly. “We’ll stay unfused! Just don’t hurt her!”

It was too much, all of this - Jade’s face wore a deep frown as, despite her better judgment, she lurched forward to reassure them.

“I’ll - I’ll keep you!” she blurted out suddenly, breathlessly - to the complete non-surprise of her own pearl. “You’ll be mine!”

“You _sap_ ,” Jade’s Pearl muttered fondly under her breath.

The sheer disbelief on the faces of the two gems kneeling before her, however, caused Jade herself to briefly wonder how she was ever going to pull this off - she had practical use of neither a nephrite nor another pearl, but those were just the _details_. A problem for later.

“If you stay here, you can be safe. You can be together.. but you have to stay unfused!”

She found herself staring into the visionspheres of two gems who were too afraid to believe her. She understood why.

They were all proven to be completely justified a second later as the chamber door slid open. Everyone present snapped their attention around and-

There stood Yellow Diamond - back straight, fists clenched down at her sides, visionspheres laying upon the group of gems with purpose.

A new terror rose over the fusion’s two halves, Jade, and her pearl.

Yellow did not look happy.

 

* * *

 

On the other side of the planet from Beach City, in a rocky canyon, Garnet leapt and caught the slug-like monster midair.

A vicious barrage of punches took place - Garnet was making quite the impression on the creature until at last she thrust a fist directly into its body. It immediately poofed, sending a brief billow of haze dissipating into the air, but no gemstone.

Garnet smiled to herself as gravity exerted its pull on her and she began to drop back down toward the ground. Suddenly, she spun - still midair - and found her vision had been correct once again. It was a good feeling to be able to do the simple things in life, again - like spin around and pluck an unsuspecting assailant from the air as if it was frozen there instead of moving extremely fast, because it was.

It was almost nostalgia - how she relished in this feeling. So, so long since she’d last felt this way. The latest slug-creature poofed easily, again leaving no gemstone.

While she was appreciating her power of foresight anew, she continued to fight the drones of a corrupted gem mother - they just kept coming and coming but, while the end of them was still a while away, Garnet felt energized. As though she could do this all day.

And she could. She was an extremely capable gem fusion, after all.

All she had to do was to keep her third eye on the waters of possibility as they flowed interminably ahead.

She poofed another slug. And another.

The mother wouldn’t be much longer.

 

* * *

 

Meanwhile, millions of lightyears away, Yellow was fed up. She stared impassively down at the trembling Jade below her, unimpressed with everything she’d just heard tumble out of the feeble gem’s stuttering mouth.

Around them, the gemstones of the two pearls and the nephrite lay undisturbed where they had landed moments earlier, on the cold marble floor.

“Answer me,” Yellow’s voice cut through the still air of the chamber.

“M-my Diamond. Please,” begged Jade, shoulders tense and shaking. Her hands were clasped in front of her, knuckles pale. “Be lenient.”

“I become less and less lenient with every passing instant,” Yellow snapped coldly, watching the much smaller gem prostrate herself before her with cynical eyes. “Once again; _which_ Sapphire made the report.”

Jade’s mind raced, but it wasn’t coming up with many answers. “I-I don’t know her designation-”

Yellow was making a great effort at biting back her temper. “Why not?! You _know_ the rules! Otherwise I wouldn’t have assigned you as manager of this-”

“My Diamond, I accept the demotion,” she was frantic enough to unwisely speak over her diamond, willing to grasp at even the thinnest chance of coming out of this with her stone intact that she was willing to become severely devalued in the process. “I-I hope that I can once again prove my worth, somehow. Please, tell me where you wish to reassign me.”

Yellow’s face twisted into a horrifying scowl.

“You think you can get away with a.. _demotion_?” She pointed straight at the lowly Jade below her and her words came out angrily before Jade could posit a response. “You and this _sapphire_ have cost me precious time, resources and more than half my army and if you don’t answer for yourself in this moment, you will be interrogated and **destroyed.** ”

As Jade stared up into the intensely accusatory glare of her beloved Diamond she imagined her Amethyst’s face contorted into a similar expression of disapproval at what she was about to do next.

She broke down, speaking the words:

“The Zoo,” it tumbled out of her, quick and breathless. “The sapphire I spoke with came from Blue Diamond’s Human Zoo.” She looked away in shame. “You’ll find her there.”

Yellow raised an eyebrow as she stared down her nose at the pitiful green gem. When she spoke again, her tone was cold and bitter.

“That will be all, Jade.”

Jade lowered her head in despair. She had the very realistic inkling that Yellow was about to destroy her form over this, either way.

During Jade’s final moments, there was a tension in her face that only ran deeper as she thought once again of her Amethyst, and wondered briefly at the short sharp sequence of events that had led her to so eagerly betray her.

 _And for what?_ she asked bitterly of the universe. But it didn’t care.

She closed her visionspheres.

Yellow’s destabilization pulse hit her all at once and she immediately retreated into her gemstone which fell, clattering, onto the floor alongside that of her trusted pearl and those of the fusion whom, moments earlier, she had tried her best to save from this very fate.

Yellow Diamond’s Pearl leapt forward quietly to bubble them all as Yellow turned and stalked away.

Toward the next item on the agenda.

 

* * *

 

The ever-flowing waters all converged together sharply. In an instant, nothing lay ahead of them save for a single, straight stream. The bends - all those tributaries - they’d all simply vanished.

One possible outcome.

Luckily, Garnet was there to witness it. But it caught her off guard and she faltered.

Unluckily, the gigantic corrupted gem mother quickly gained the upper hand. With a clawed hand, the corrupted beast knocked her down and she skidded on her side back across the rocky canyon floor.

Distracted by the course of future events as she struggled to pick herself up from the ground, Garnet saw chaos spill through the hallways of the Human Zoo, followed by a bright light as her components spilled out from her dissipating form.

Ruby gasped and pushed herself up onto her hands and knees. She snapped her head around to see- “Sapphire!”

Sapphire was in shock - unable to move. She did, however, manage a reeling glance at Ruby long enough to say; “It’s all my fault.”

Ruby scrambled to her feet. She knew exactly what Sapphire was talking about. “NO. It’s NOT.”

In her frozen state, Sapphire was unable to dodge the monster’s next blow. If only she had found the fortitude to do so, she might have managed to avoid being poofed.

As it happened, a shell-shocked Ruby shoved herself into action and into a forward roll in order to quickly swipe Sapphire’s gem up from the ground. Landing on her feet immediately after, she darted forward as the corrupted monster crashed down with its talons once more, exactly where she’d been not a moment earlier.

Ruby held Sapphire’s gem in her fist as she ran back toward the warp pad, which lay up a trail, in another part of the canyon. If only she could shake this monster loose and make it there, she’d be homefree! But the monster was hard on her tail and she didn’t fancy the idea of it entering the warp stream with her, so she attempted to slow it down by turning and running up a cliff face as fast as she could.

The monster smashed into the cliff face, and what followed was the equivalent of an earthquake of severe magnitude. Ruby took it in her stride however and landed back on the ground with an amazing flip. She immediately turned to complete the final dash toward the warp pad but moments before she made it, a boulder that had been shaken loose from high above smashed directly into it, destroying it.

Ruby skidded to a stop and stared a moment in disbelief at her would-be ride home. She cursed her lack of foresight without Sapphire present and, glancing around, thoughts in overdrive, she started thinking there had to be another way.

She looked up into the deep blue sky. _There it was._

She squatted deeply and yelled as she released all that energy, propelling herself high up into the air.

Down below, the corruption reared back to roar uselessly as Ruby’s form disappeared fast into the sky.

 

* * *

 

The weather had held it together for once, and this afternoon the kids found themselves chilling on the beach in front of the boardwalk. There were a couple of swimmers out, but Steven and Connie were content to sit in the dry sand, watching the waves go in and out.

“Peedee got new crocs,” said Connie with a crinkled-up nose.

“He had to, he’s getting taller,” shrugged Steven before he hoovered down the last of The Bits.

“Why can’t he just admit that the bubble popped a long time and just _throw them away._ ”

Steven finishing chewing crunchy, salty bits and swallowed before replying. “Soon you’re going to get all judgy about my flip-flops.”

Connie smiled fondly at him. “Steven, I have nothing but admiration for you and everything you have done in those things.”

“Gems aside,” Steven said with mock seriousness, “They’re are the actual source of my powers. I’ll never be without them.”

“You goofus,” she giggled.

The waves washed in and back out to sea as they laughed together as another peaceful day wore on.

 

* * *

 

Hours later, something crashed through the roof of the beach house as though it wasn’t even there.

Ruby landed in a crouch in the middle of the floor as though she hadn’t just fallen straight out of the sky.

Pearl and Amethyst were still hanging out reading their newspapers at the kitchen counter, but the current events of the day were quickly forgotten as the peace was disturbed and both sets of eyes fell on Ruby as the dust settled.

“Cool!” shrieked Amethyst, tossing the paper away. “I didn’t know we could wreck all this stuff!”

“RUBY!?” shrieked Pearl, uncomprehending. “WHYYYY have you DONE this!?”

As the dust settled they saw the look on her face, the small blue gem she held in her hand, and quickly grew concerned.

“What.. happened to Sapph-” Amethyst’s face grew serious as she struggled to understand.

But Ruby raised a hand, cutting her off. “Guys! The Zoo’s in trouble!”

If the rude entrance hadn’t already gathered everyone’s attention, this certainly made them double up.

“It’s Yellow,” Ruby told them with a burning intensity, fists clenched tight. “She knows about the Zoo.”

 

* * *

 

“Most of what she’s been saying reminds me of what Garnet tells me,” Steven was leaning back onto his hands in the sand. They’d spent the last few hours talking about everything and nothing, and presently the topic had turned to Steven’s state of mind.

“And I know it’s good advice - that.. that no matter what she did, my mom’s guilt isn’t mine. That it doesn’t belong to me. I’ve just inherited it, along with everything else.”

He kicked his foot into the sand slightly and tried to make himself feel what he was saying. “This guilt, all these problems.. none of it ever really belonged to me. I’ve just taught myself to _think_ it does, because that’s the shape of the rut I’m in.”

Connie sat cross-legged beside him in the sunlight, sipping lightly from her durian box. She was nodding, content to just listen to her best friend describe his feelings.

“It’s just something I need to work on.” He went silent a moment. “But.. is it horrible that I’ve actually enjoyed all this time I’ve been spending away from the space station? Being around all those gems.. and Lars.” He heaved a sigh. “That place is _filled_ with victims of this whole thing that _she_ started.”

Gulls cried out overhead as a short silence passed between them. He soon sunk at his shoulders, eyes downcast. “Of what I can’t do anything about..”

His next thought spilled out very quietly. “And no one will just _say it_.”

“Steven,” her tone was kind. “You’re doing it again. Mindful thinking, remember?”

He shook his head. “Right, right. I.. still gotta work on it.” He smiled at her. “I’m so glad you could come over today.”

“What’s a Tuesday afternoon without hanging with my best friend?” she smiled back.

“A.. school day?” Steven asked, confused.

Connie shrugged. “Today’s a strike day.”

Steven looked as though he was about to say more, but something caught the two kids out of the corners of their eyes. They glanced over as Lion, emerging from a portal, touched down on the surface of the water, bobbing effortlessly over incoming waves. Steven smiled and waved at the big pink cat.

“Hi Lion! Right on time!” he called out.

Connie gave him a cock-eyed look. “Steven, we’ve been hanging out waiting on him for hours.”

“Lion knows when he’s ready,” shrugged Steven as he pushed himself up onto his feet. “He may have had important Lion business to take care of. Who’s to say!”

Lion trotted over the waves toward the teenagers and started leaving big adorable pawprints in the wet sand. He sat down in the sand as they rushed over to glomp him enthusiastically.

“I _can_ do this myself, Connie,” Steven said. “It’ll take one minute. I drop in, say hey, deliver high-fives and mail, see if Peridot wants a lift, say bye, out again. Easy.”

“No, no, I wanna come,” Connie looked excited. “I miss everyone, too. It’s been days!”

He took her hand and together they stepped through Lion’s mane and into the Pink Dimension.

 

* * *

 

It was the same as it ever was - an endless pink meadow ruffled gently by a mysterious breeze they couldn’t breathe in, two perfect trees standing for as long as the hosts they represented had been forever changed by gem magic.

They waded through the grasses from the base of one to the other - the contents of the pink bubble in the lower canopy of the gently swaying Narra tree glinting oddly at them as they approached.

 

* * *

 

“Hiiiii Laaaaars!”

Lars jumped and tumbled back, thrown by the sudden weight imbalance of the kids leaving his head. Luckily, Skinny caught him and pushed him back into balance.

“Steven?” started Lars, and Steven was surprised to hear his tone more fearful than usual.

But their attention was hijacked by a voice from the other side of the bridge.

“We can’t use the thrusters,” came Peridot’s voice from over by the diamond screen where she was standing with Carnelian. She had regret in her eyes as she stared at the viewport. “If only progress hadn’t been held up by that destroyer, we coulda just _booked it_ by now!” she was explaining with an anxiety to her voice.

Actually, noted Steven, there was a distinct undercurrent of tension to the atmosphere here in this crowded bridge. Apparently you didn’t need empathetic powers to know that, because Connie had also caught on quickly.

“What’s going on?” asked Connie, confused, amid the hubbub. She caught Skinny’s widened eye for a second, but the gem was immediately distracted by a question from Wy.

“Should I go get Holly?” the amethyst looked purely scared.

“Yes-” nodded Skinny, consternation printed all over her features.

Lars spun around to cut her off. “No!”

“I’ll prep Metal Pumpkin, just in case!” yelled Peridot as she activated an orb. “Carnelian, come help!”

Carnelian jumped into the orb with her and they both disappeared into the floor.

Steven and Connie looked around - Zee was standing over by a far wall, biting her knuckles nervously. Padparadscha too was standing next to them, hands clasped in front of her, teeth grit. She tightened her lips as she noticed the children.

“Hah.. it _seems_ Yellow Diamond is on her way to visit this Zoo,” she told them in a flat voice, tinged with fear. “We’re all.. rather nervous about it.”

A sinking feeling hit both the kids as they glanced up at the viewport.

“Connie-” Steven gasped. She clutched at his shoulder in response.

Displayed prominently in real time, the screen showed a yellow fleet of ships making their approach, with Yellow Diamond’s arm ship in the lead.

A shiver traveled down Steven’s spine as he noticed its index touchstump was sternly pointing, accusingly - it seemed - at him.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Whoops.
> 
> I didn’t want Yellow to have to come to the Zoo to sort out her terrible nieces. I didn’t want all the good things in this chapter to happen against the backdrop of it all starting to unravel.. but it had to happen, and here we are.
> 
> It only ended up taking thirteen chapters for the rogue planet thing to become relevant. I was originally thinking five, tops - this fic is out of control.
> 
> One chapter away from the end of this arc..
> 
> And maybe the Zoo. Who knows.
> 
>  
> 
> (I might be a little later than usual with the next chapter next week - I’ve decided to re-write a lot of what I had. ._.)


	23. The Innocent.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Despite your grand attempts, the chips are set to fall.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This took much longer to write than I wanted. :(

Steven railed internally against the situation unfolding before him. It was supposed to have been a simple visit - in and out with no problems or drama. His bottom lip trembled as he realized that this cold, unfeeling universe had other things in mind for him.

For everyone.

“This is a bad Tuesday,” Connie said in halting tones as she also eyed the viewport in a kind of nervous determination, sharing his general feeling.

He quickly wrenched his eyes away from the image of Yellow’s arm ship and accompanying armada approaching because Lars had started giving his fresh take. “Steven, Connie, you gotta go home right now-” the lanky kid started saying.

Steven cut him off while nodding. “R-right - I’ll get the others,” Steven replied as he took in just how freaked-out his friend looked.

Lars began to disagree with him but an abrupt splitscreen popped up in the lower left of the viewport. It took the full attention of everyone in the room.

Pearl, Amethyst and Ruby stood tense within the picture.

“Steven! There you are!” shrieked Pearl. “Is Yellow there yet!?”

Steven blinked. “How do you know about-”

“Bring us through!” yelled Ruby, cutting him off. “Also, hi Steven!”

“Hi - Ruby!?” Steven realized belatedly amid the chaos but before he could ask what had happened to Garnet, he was cut off again and spun around as a voice sounded behind him.

“It could still be an normal visit,” spluttered Skinny Jasper, wincing at the screen, grasping at whatever hope she had available.

“From _Yellow?_ ” croaked Zee, from where she’d been clutching the back of one of the chairs. _”And her army!?”_

“Do you really think that?” asked Pearl from the other side of the screen.

Down by her side, Skinny tried to relax a shaking fist. She recalled a conversion that took place, months earlier, here in this very bridge. A sentiment about promise, from the very same Pearl, about loss.

“No,” came her bitter reply. She straightened herself, trying acceptance on for size.

Steven meanwhile nodded up at Pearl. “I’m on my way!”

When he held out his hand for Connie, the young woman shook her head and unsheathed the sword that always and without fail accompanied her to space. “You go. I’ll stay.”

By the looks of the viewport, there was less and less time to argue. Steven nodded at Connie despite the concern stamped across his features and turned to Lars.

Lars exhaled. He interlocked his fingers and lowered his hands to create a step to help Steven re-enter his head in the most awkward way possible - almost like hopping a fence straight into some guy’s head. Lars then immediately decided to drop down onto his knees on the floor while he waited in the futile hope that the Crystal Gem’s entry wouldn’t turn once again into its usual shambles of an affair.

“They’re docking,” said Bea Jasper with an edge to her voice that everyone could appreciate.

“Where’s Garnet?!” Skinny belatedly asked the screen in desperation. “How certain are we that she’s coming to shatter us all?”

Ruby took the center of the screen. She no longer shared Sapphire’s ability - the blue gem was clutched tightly in her hand after all - but she remembered Garnet’s vision all too well.

“Oh, _fairly_ certain!” Ruby’s reply came with a confidence that everyone could plainly see, despite all the nervous energy present.

Suddenly, Steven appeared on the screen briefly in order to grab them. “Guys - c’mon!”

“Ruby - leave Sapphire here. She’ll be in danger!” urged Pearl as she pulled Amethyst over toward Lion.

“Right.. right!” Ruby reluctantly scooted back over to place the small blue gem down on a table in plain view of the screen. She kissed it quickly. “Bye Sapphire! Don’t worry, kay?” she told the dormant gemstone briefly before speeding back over to the others.

The Earth ones soon spilled awkwardly onto the floor in front of the space ones.

“So, what’s the verdict?” Amethyst asked as she picked herself out of her cat shape and reclaimed her natural form.

“We’re going to treat this like an ordinary visit,” came Skinny’s decision as she shapeshifted into a wider, more muscular, more perfect version of herself.

“Until it’s not,” she added sourly.

 

* * *

 

Everyone aboard the facility who was a quartz soldier lined the walls of the hallways outside the docking bay. Their instructions were to attempt their best encore of the show of discipline they’d given during the beryl’s visit, which had been some months ago now.

The docking bay would only fit a handful of ships - they knew that more were in orbit outside, waiting, also filled with soldiers.

Skinny, Wy, Zee and a similarly-shaped Amethyst stood grimly at the doors, watching with weary eyes as the docking bay filled with Yellow’s soldiers - citrines, topazes, agates, and jaspers of a different cut. Amethyst noticed their faces; invariably stony and grim, as if they’d just been through something horrible. She had no idea what to make of it, but that didn’t matter. Her objective was to protect the Zoo and everyone who called it home.

A caped yellow beryl filtered to the front of the mass of soldiers and spoke up in an authoritative tone. She got straight to the point in an imperious voice that sliced the air like a knife.

“We come at the behest of Yellow Diamond. You are to immediately give up your sapphire and be subjected to a search.”

“Our _huh!?_ ” asked Amethyst, taken completely by surprise.

“Respectfully, Heliodor - we don’t know any sapphires,” Skinny interrupted through grit teeth, frowning. “This is one of _Blue Diamond’s_ facilities, and it’s run by us quartzes under Holly Blue Agate.”

“We’ve never had a sapphire stationed here,” added Wy.

“What need have we of a sapphire?!” Zee laughed nervously.

The Heliodor looked unimpressed as she found herself forced to elaborate. “ _The_ sapphire who, during a visit to Sigma III, spoke with a Jade.”

Wy swallowed only to find her mouth dry. Zee found herself too afraid to speak. Amethyst grit her teeth as Skinny began to say something, but she was immediately cut off by Heliodor.

“Stop wasting my time,” came the bright yellow gem’s dismissive request as she waved a hand at them. “Go retrieve the Agate - she has a lot to answer for.”

Wy quickly turned as if to leave and go do just that, but Amethyst put out an arm to stop her.

“Our Agate is busy,” Skinny said carefully.

Heliodor finally read the room. The quartzes lining the walls exuded a quiet nervous energy - which was to be expected, but the fact that these quartzes weren’t jumping over themselves to fulfill her simple request was extremely telling.

She also knew that Yellow Diamond held nothing but disdain for this place and wanted it to fall.

Her orders were clear, but she thought she’d at least give them one last chance.

“In that case, _stand down._ ”

The three amethysts and jasper faced her still, joined by the wary visionspheres of the sea of quartzes backing them.

“Well,” smiled Heliodor, “Insubordination, is it?” She didn’t seem as upset by this as she was pleasantly surprised to find she could take her rage out on this pitiful place after all.

“Yes. Of course it is,” glowered Skinny, finally feeling free.

Amethyst released the shape she’d been holding - reforming to her natural state which she found much easier to fight in, pulling her whip as she did. Skinny took her cue and reverted back as well while Wy and Zee on either side of her pulled their weapons.

A second later, Amethyst’s whip ensnared Heliodor.

“Engage!” came the command as she fell backward, and the sea of yellow and orange smashed into the sea of purple and orange as a battle broke out.

In the middle of it all, a jasper ran over to a panel on a wall and mashed it with her hand, only to be bodyslammed to the ground by a topaz a second later.

 

* * *

 

Everyone who wasn’t a quartz soldier remained up in the bridge, watching as huge warning signs in gemlish lined the walls, accompanied on the viewport by a map showing the location of the distress.

Steven and Connie grit their teeth as Pearl pulled her spear.

“Let’s go!” shouted Ruby, summoning her gauntlet.

“Padparadscha.. stay here,” said Lars, attempting a smile that didn’t quite reach his eyes.

The little orange gem stared hesitantly up at her friend for what she hoped wouldn’t be the last time, again, and clasped her hands nervously in front of her. “Good luck, everyone.”

Connie nodded grimly and Lars braced himself to make a portal, but the shout died impotent on his lips as a huge yellow orb phased down through the ceiling, its descent causing everyone present to stumble backward into the periphery of the room in order to avoid getting hit by it.

Beads of sweat formed on Pearl’s face. She knew exactly that was happening as the orb fell away fast to reveal Yellow Diamond.

Her massive form somehow managed to fit inside the bridge without her head hitting the ceiling. She did not look happy. Then again, no one else seemed particularly happy about this situation either.

In the silence of this awkward moment, Yellow took stock of the situation. It was unprecedented for there to be so many different kinds of gems here in the bridge of Blue’s ridiculous little project, especially-

 _“Rose Quartz,”_ she said with an initial disbelief which rounded quickly into full-on distaste as her eyes narrowed at Steven.

“Yellow Diamond.. Hi!” he replied in a manner that he tried to spin as pleasant even though he could feel his whole life slipping away.

And there was Connie - bracing herself beside him, sword at the ready. She had her eyes narrowed - watching grimly, readying herself to react to the slightest offense.

He also noticed Pearl out of the corner of his eye as she began shaking violently. Alarmed, he turned to see her drop her spear, stumbling backward, her hands blocking the words she wished would just tumble out of her mouth.

But there was no time to be distracted as the diamond reached down and plucked the cowering Padparadscha up into the air by her right hand.

Yellow raised her up to dangle her, helplessly, in front of her face. She wanted to get a good look at this tiny sapphire whose premonition had cost her so, so much.

“Everyone! I-I foresee - AAH!”

“Padparadscha!” yelled Connie, too distracted by Pearl to react in time. She glanced over at Lars who was sweating bullets as he pulled the destabilizer from his head and drew a deep breath through clenched teeth.

The sapphire trapped between the diamond’s thumb and forefinger squealed and swung wildly in the ensuing concussive blast, but Yellow Diamond merely only needed to change her footing and bring her arms in closer to herself to brace herself against it.

He stopped in despair as soon as he saw his little friend’s distress. As the reverberations died, Yellow smiled coldly at Steven as she considered him through narrowed, dangerous eyes.

“It’s been months, _Rose_ \- you were resourceful enough to escape Homeworld, and _this_ is all you’ve managed to do in the months since? Turn this pathetic _Zoo?!_ ” she showed her teeth, so disappointed. “I remember you used to strike a much more imposing figure.”

Steven took a shaking step forward. “Please, just let her go! Don’t-”

Before he could say anything more, Ruby launched herself into the air and snatched Padparadscha from Yellow’s grasp. A second later, the fiery gem hit the floor, with Padparadscha in her arms clutching back at her, shaking profusely.

Steven’s pupils constricted as Yellow raised a gravity connector high above the two - for all the world a boot to some ignorant ants.

“Portal!” yelled Pearl, breaking her own gag for a moment.

“RUBY,” Lars shouted, causing a portal to open in front of the two gems. In a flash, Ruby realized the danger they were in and threw herself and Padparadscha into it. Yellow’s heel came crashing down where they would have been, creating a large dint in the floor.

“WHAT?!” railed Yellow, bringing her heel down once more, uselessly.

“Yellow Diamond-” it was Pearl, surprisingly. She was standing boldly now, her spear point turned up towards Yellow, who had now spun to angrily face the tiny Pearl below her. “We can discuss this rationally!”

Yellow couldn’t stand some insolent pearl presuming to speak to her in this way - armed or not - and shot an arch of lightening out. Pearl expertly backflipped out of the way and landed in a crouch, unharmed, as the pulse of energy scorched the flooring instead.

It was enough of a distraction for Connie and Steven to run at each other and in a blast of bright light, Stevonnie appeared. Yellow blinked in surprise as the fusion - armed with sword and, suddenly, a shield - launched themself up into the air, directly at her face.

She slapped out a hand at them and they were rudely flung back into a high part of the wall.

Watching from the ground, Lars and Pearl were elated to see that they were unhurt. Stevonnie was hanging onto the wall from a shallow crater they’d made when they slammed against it, rubbing dust out of their eyes with their upper arm as they readied themselves.

They tried again.

At the same time, Pearl and Lars attacked - Pearl leaping high into the air, expertly and gracefully with her spear; Lars like a baboon wielding a rock with the destabilizer.

Yellow ducked the air attack and Stevonnie sailed straight past her, landing on the opposite wall instead. They readied themselves to try again.

Lars smiled widely in vindication as he landed a sparking strike into her gravity connector appearance modifier, but whatever a destabilizer could manage to do to an ordinary gem, it evidently wasn’t nearly enough to poof a diamond. The smile fell from his face as he realized she’d felt it, though, and a swift shake of her foot sent him flying up into the screen the Zoo had pilfered from one of her old bases. He groaned as he slowly slid off it, and plummeted the rest of the way to the floor.

Yellow recognized the screen at once, and glanced over at the fusion with a little amusement. “Well! Rose, you _have_ been busy, haven't you?”

Pearl dodged a second kick and in return fired a slew of spears upward, but they were no match for the diamond who merely raised an arm to deflect them as Stevonnie took an exasperated breath and launched themself again from the wall.

Yellow, tiring of all this, suddenly slapped Stevonnie out of the air, and kicked Pearl back into the wall.

“You’ll live long enough to regret all of this, Rose,” Yellow promised as her orb reformed around her. It quickly disappeared with her into the floor before her opponents had any chance to regroup.

Stevonnie hauled themselves back up onto their feet to find that Pearl was already up and helping Lars to his.

“Augh, thanks Pearl,” he groaned, but the pain was already fading fast.

“Are you kids okay?” Pearl asked him and the fusion with worry.

“Oof.. Where did she go!?” Stevonnie was freaking out, their own wellbeing on the back burner for a moment, haunted by Yellow’s parting words. “What is she going to-”

Stevonnie fell silent, narrowing their eyes in thought for half a second before the only eventuality occurred to them.

 

* * *

 

Ruby found that she and Padparadscha had been sent to the Battle Room via the portal that just now disappeared behind them. She let the sapphire down so that she was back on her own two feet before speeding over to the crates that she knew contained an assortment of weapons.

Many of them had recently been raided in preparation for the possibility-come-reality of conflict and pickings looked to be mighty slim as Ruby sped from one to the other, checking them as she went.

Too many useless pool noodles. And what were all these chairs and pillows doing, strewn around like the aftermath of some kind of.. slumber party!?

She groaned loudly as she pulled down the remainder of what appeared to have once been some kind of ill-planned pillow fort to get at the load-bearing unopened crates supporting it, and threw the lid off the thing and peered in over the side of it to see..

Weapons. _Glittering weapons._

She smiled. “Perfect!”

A sob, barely concealed, caught her attention and she spun around immediately to see the orange sapphire behind her, stricken presumably by what she had just experienced. Ruby took a couple of steps toward her as it occurred to her why she might be distressed.

“Argh! Padparadscha - I’m sorry!” Ruby rushed over, scratching the back of her head. “Yellow attacked you first because she was looking for Sapphire! And.. obviously, you were the only sapphire. A classic case of mistaken identity, nothing to-” she trailed off as she noticed the other gem’s continued low state. “A-are you okay!?”

“Y-yes, yes, I’m fine,” came Padparadscha’s stammered reply. She was fretting, clenched fingers clutching her skirts out of anxiety, a few beads of sweat forming on her cheek. Regardless of the rational explanation, this was one more. Just one more in a growing string of failures for her.

Ruby happily took her words at face value. “That’s the spirit! Come help me, let’s get you weaponed up!”

She ran back over to the crate she’d opened and leaned heavily over the side to rifle around in it. She shortly came up with a gem destabilizer, which she handed to the orange gem. “This will do! These things seem like the most dangerous thing on the market these days. All you do is-”

Padparadscha accepted it but held it limply with both hands. She stared down at it with reluctance. It was too much. Her gravity connectors still didn’t feel like they were properly on the floor. In fact, part of her suspected that all this - what she was experiencing right now - was the dying fantasy of some still-somehow-conscious chunk of her own shattered gemstone.

But.. it couldn’t be. She’d just been rescued, once again, by someone else.

“I-” she started with hesitation. Then, after clearing her throat; “I’ve never - I’m.. not _for_ this,” she said quietly.

“Huh?” asked Ruby, surprised. She hadn’t heard another gem talking seriously in this way in quite a while. She accepted the weapon as Padparadscha pushed it back into her hands. “But I’m not asking you to fight, just to defend yourself-”

“I’m.. _useless_ , Ruby!” Padparadscha exclaimed. “Back on Upsilon IX.. I’m the one who got us caught.”

A tear rolled down her face from behind her bangs as it all came flooding back to her. It was a trauma she’d been happily disconnecting herself from for a while now, what with this amazing station her marvelous human friend had found somewhere deep in space, the wonderful gems who called it home, and their delightful allies - the Crystal Gems of the beautiful, distant Earth.

One of whom was right here in front of her, doing her damnedest for her in the middle of a high-stress situation.. but she couldn’t even.

“It’s because of me that the rest of my friends are missing!” her words tumbled through tears that weren’t quitting anytime soon. “Lars forgives me, but that’s only because he blames himself. At least I see the truth of it all.” She grit her teeth, “I predict Garnet will be _wrong!_ I shouldn’t be trusted to do anything. I’ll never be any good to anyone.”

Ruby had been staring with wide eyes through this whole thing. She spread her arms out in frustration suddenly, destabilizer still in hand. “What! Are you joking right now!?”

Padparadscha gasped, and Ruby realized belatedly what it looked like. She threw the destabilizer gently aside and tried talking, this time, softly and much more encouragingly.

“Please, Padparadscha, these are horrible things to think about yourself-”

Padparadscha pent her fingers together in front of her mouth, anxiously. “How!? There was only one thing that I was specifically made to do, and I can’t even do that properly.”

“Padparadscha..”

She shook her head emphatically. Here she was, impeding progress again. She sighed. “No, Ruby. Just go. Go save the day. I’ll hide here.”

Ruby grit her teeth. She knew a battle was still going on outside those very doors she just now stole a quick glance at, but she was loathe to leave Padparadscha like this.

Garnet would have known what to do. But Garnet wasn’t here right now. Ruby, in her stead, tried hard to channel her wisdom.

“Listen! We don’t have time for this, but - You are _way_ cooler than you think you are! And we’re going to address these feelings you have, just.. after this is over. Okay?”

Padparadscha nodded meekly. “I. Okay.”

“Will you? ..Be okay here? I mean-”

“Yes,” Padparadscha said, blushing in shame. “I’ll just.. hide.”

“Here,” Ruby scooted to the side a little to collect the destabilizer back up, and offered it to her. “Take this! You jab this part into any of Yellow’s gems you see. Use it if you need to!”

Padparadscha gulped visibly.

“You can do it,” Ruby said encouragingly. “I believe in you!”

Padparadscha clutched it tightly. She looked up to see Ruby bidding her farewell as she picked up a destabilizer of her own as she headed over to the door.

“I’ll come get you after this is over! Good luck!”

Ruby did a cool flip in order to lay a swift kick to the control panel, and exited through the doors as they wooshed open.

“Good luck,” said Padparadscha, seconds after the door slid shut behind her.

 

* * *

 

The battle had spread to envelope the entirety of the space station’s long hallways. In the middle of it all, Peridot was having a blast - literally!

She and Carnelian were riding bareback their glorious steed, Metal Pumpkin - a gargantuan spherical green robonoid that Peridot had cobbled together months back, precisely for this very occasion. The two gems were standing on top of it as it moved, and it shot lasers from the blast canon mounted on top of it at her command.

“Amethyst! Get outta the way!” she yelled. Amethyst spun around and ducked as a laser beam shot past her and destabilized her opponent.

“Yo P! C! Where’s your friend been all my life!?” she cried out in glee.

“In parts lying around this facility, _obviously_ ,” replied Peridot with an eyeroll.

“Guys, check it out-” warned Carnelian, pointing further down the hallway. A couple of citrine quartzes were spindashing toward them at high speed. Amethyst threw herself out of the way against the wall as Peridot pointed a finger at them, manipulating the canon’s aim using her ferrokinesis.

“Fire!”

These citrines were obviously aware of their surroundings, dodging the blasts as they approached. Amethyst did a flip into the air and landed on the back of Metal Pumpkin as Peridot levitated the entire thing - the spindashers blew past underneath them and the three short gems turned to watch them smash into a stealthily-approaching group of their cohorts. The ensuing carnage made the total local enemy count a little easier to manage.

Amethyst and Carnelian jumped down to engage the remaining yellow soldiers while Peridot provided ranged assistance.

Soon, their little section of the hallway was clear and the two quartzes lurched forward to bubble the fallen gemstones. Amethyst glanced at her two cohorts with worry.

“Have you guys seen Steven? Him and the others were supposed to portal down when the alarm first sounded, but-”

Peridot cut in. “We helped Ruby take out a topaz earlier, but no Steven or the others.”

Carnelian shrugged in agreement.

Amethyst huffed. “Well, I’ll keep looking.”

“We’ll keep an eye out! Metal Pumpkin - Away!” Peridot cried out and her magnificent steed obeyed.

 

* * *

 

Stevonnie, Pearl and Lars tumbled out of a portal only to find Pink Diamond’s Chamber completely devoid of vengeful diamonds. It was as deceptively peaceful as it had ever been, with its hundreds of silenced gems floating in ancient bubbles high above them, but nonetheless they found little relief in this.

The spear Pearl came in armed with disappeared as she frowned in confusion, and Lars placed a hand on his hip as he glanced up at Stevonnie. They all began raking their brains in order to game this out.

The fusion soon had another idea. “Maybe.. she’s going to the Containment Area instead?”

Pearl looked doubtful. “There’s no way she’d bother with-”

The fledgling conversation died a swift death in the air between them as the diamond-sized door across the room from them slid open. Gasping, the three of them scrambled to hide behind the pillars closest to them.

Yellow Diamond didn’t seem to notice them as she stepped inside, however. The door slid shut with an emotionless whoosh.

She briefly regarded the bubbled rose quartzes in malice before snapping her fingers sharply. Pearl found her mouth covered by her own hands once again as Stevonnie stared open-mouthed and Lars narrowed his eyes as every bubble in the room instantly popped - as if disrupted by vibrations in the very air around them.

In a breathless moment of weightlessness where it seemed they would all succumb to gravity and pelt the floor, each and every gemstone instead began to glow and spit out their physical constructs. It was as if none of them could wait a couple of extra seconds - so eager to rejoin the rest of the universe in being.

The entire room was bathed in white light as it happened. The two semi-organics found it hard to watch as their pupils struggled to react fast enough to deal with the amount of light filling the room.

All the same, neither could rip their eyes away as hundreds of rose quartz soldiers took form. All in warm-toned pink uniforms bearing the Pink Diamond Insignia. All of them blinking, casting about, struggling to understand.

Although she was no longer struggling, Pearl’s mouth firmly clamped shut as she stared out over the crowd of lost quartzes. She recognized so many of them.

They stood on the floor, bemused and apprehensive, glancing around uncertainly, more and more of them beginning to fixate nervously on the diamond towering above them.

For the first time in eons, each one of them had a voice. From the hubbub rose noises of; “What are-” “How long has-” “Where are we?” “ _How-_ ” “We’ve been _pardoned?_ ”

As Stevonnie stared from out of their hiding place, eyes watering, the Steven part of the fusion was reeling. _They look just like.._

Colored in pink tones ranging the spectrum - each one clearly an individual, but at the same time each of them bore a more-than-striking resemblance to her.

 _Of course - of course they do!,_ pleaded the Connie part of Stevonnie, trying to wrest control of the fusion enough to act. _What else did you expect?_

This all took place in a long and horrid moment during which Yellow came awash in a sudden nostalgia.

To Yellow, it was an unwelcome feeling - like a sickness. Of course, Yellow Diamond had no concept of sickness except in terms of defectiveness.

She wanted no part of it.

She had previously committed to her plan without once having expected to feel this way - she had been certain that her own rationality or, at the very least, cold unfeeling rage would have instead taken control. That she’d immediately do what she knew needed to be done. Like she _always_ did.

Instead, she found herself staring out over all these gems that the demure diamond Pink created, and every single being in front of her reminded her of happier times, back before the war for her ruined planet, when-

Yellow frowned.

**No.**

It was a waste of precious energy, feeling this way. All this - just a remnant, a headache from a time that no longer existed. A place buried deep in the past. She couldn’t go back there. She refused.

Her beloved Blue had instigated and needlessly prolonged this mess, but Yellow knew that the only way out was forward.

She felt ridiculous and weak, having given into this moment of sentimentality. It was the sort of thing for which she’d always chided Blue. The kind of soft-minded drivel for which she’d always had some dose of logic or other haughty comment ready. The kind of talk that had often left her rolling her visionspheres in boredom.

She pushed it down because she was actually strong. There was no place for such feelings in this - a universe where there were still _so many things to do._

She needed to be rid of this massive burden, this weight. She desperately wanted Blue to be rid of it too. There was no question in her mind - Blue Diamond would forgive her for all this.

Somecycle.

Thank her, even, when she finally allowed herself to be free to move on.

And Yellow was willing to wait for that. She’d waited so long already.

One of the rose quartzes had grown bold enough to move to the front of the crowd of pink gems - more and more of whom were starting to straighten up and salute Yellow despite their obvious fear and confusion.

“My Diamond,” voice shaking, hands clasped in front of her, the otherwise emboldened rose quartz trembled as her meek voice filled the room. “Rose Quartz Facet—5 Cut-10VE. W-we are humbled and.. _so_ grateful that you have seen fit to release us-”

She cut off slightly, trembling, as she noticed the cold look Yellow was giving her as she spoke. She couldn’t help but entertain the sudden feeling that all this was wrong, somehow. She stole a quick glance around her to see that - yes, her cohorts appeared to have the same feeling.

But they were back, and she was standing before them. That must mean _something._

“Have.. have..” Turning her face back toward the diamond, she took a deep breath, “Have we been forgiven?”

Forgiven. _Never._

And so Yellow Diamond, once again taking matters into her own hands, held them both outstretched in front of her. A massive burst of energy arched from them, zapping down, arcing out in wicked zigs and zags over all the standing quartzes. Every one of them attempted to flee, but there was nowhere to really go. Instead they were screaming. Flailing. Quickly destabilizing.

A hailstorm of gemstones soon clattered down onto the floor amid a thick haze of poofed physical constructs.

As the haze settled, the pearl, the fusion and the guy were watching in pure horror from their hiding place behind the pillar, which abruptly exploded in a burst of lightning. The three of them jumped back from it, startled, revealing themselves.

The fusion felt their heart sink - the diamond had known they were there the entire time.

Yellow threw an arm back to send a couple of additional bolts out - one to either side of Stevonnie, who hadn’t been expecting it. Pearl was the first hit, and she screamed as she joined those poofed. Stevonnie scrambled to protect Lars from whatever would have happened to him with a well-placed shield.

Lars exhaled shakily, sweating, as Pearl’s pearl clattered around on the floor until it slowly came to a rest.

Without a word, Yellow turned back away and calmly strode over to one of the comparatively tiny pink gemstones - specifically, the stone belonging to the rose quartz who had addressed her directly, in fact - and positioned her gravity connector immediately above it.

Lars watched, stricken in place, as Stevonnie ran out ahead of him, sword and shield up.

“Stop!” The fusion was screaming. “Yellow Diamond! Don’t do this!”

“Hah!” The diamond was enjoying this. “What are _you_ going to do?”

“Please!” Stevonnie was desperate, spreading their arms wide. “They’re innocent! They had nothing to do with it! Just.. listen to me!” They were grasping now. “I can expla-”

“ _Blue_ gave you every chance to explain yourself at that pointless trial you fled!” Yellow shouted.

“But-”

They were interrupted again by an increasingly irate diamond. “What under the eternal light of the most distant galaxies could you **POSSIBLY. SAY. TO. ME.** ”

“I-” Stevonnie grasped at.. nothing. They blinked. It was true.

Rose Quartz did it.

Rose Quartz was gone, but Steven was still here.

They had nothing to offer her but their own gem, once again.

“I c-can explain why!” Stevonnie offered, after a moment.

But the humble offer of closure didn’t help.

Yellow was furious. “Why would I listen to you? You are just another one of her worthless, flawed mistakes. You dare even to be fused with a filthy organic as you address me! Have you no shame!?”

Stevonnie grit their teeth, unable to get a word in edgewise as the diamond continued.

“You are something else that I should NEVER. HAVE _ALLOWED._ TO _HAPPEN._ ”

She turned back to the gemstone she had decided to vent her anger out upon in this moment. The hundreds of others also lying around would have to wait their turn as their rebel leader watched.

“STOP!” screamed Stevonnie, their face ashen.

When the gigantic Yellow Diamond turned, Stevonnie took a bold step forward.

Lars’ eyes moved from the fusion up to the towering diamond. He ground his teeth together, anxiety levels catapulting in this stressful situation.

Stevonnie was talking again, healthy beads of sweat sliding down their face.

“Listen - Our name, I mean, my-” they grunted, “ _Myyy.._ ”

The fusion forcibly broke apart from the inside, and Steven instantly jumped to his feet. He took more steps forward toward the gigantic being, raising his hands toward her as part of his desperate effort to get her to stop.

“My name is Steven! I’m not Rose Quartz - she was my mom!” His heart was in the throat as he spoke, but he spoke anyway.

Yellow turned around to face the little guy as Connie staggered up from where she’d landed, and over to him, sword in hand.

“Steven, no - we should stay fused,” she reached her empty hand for him, but Steven shook his head.

His attention was instead focused on Yellow, whose attention was pinned right back down at him as he faced her unarmed.

“Rose Quartz gave her life so that I could exist,” he called up toward her. “I’m not her! But.. I have her gem.”

Yellow flatly rejected his statement with a shake of her head.

“Always avoiding reckoning for your deeds.”

He took an exasperated breath and reiterated. “I’m not her!” he wrestled back his fear as he continued. “I had nothing to do with what she did. But I’m willing to take the blame if it means this all ends.”

He was surprised that she was listening, actually. He hurried to indicate the dormant gemstones behind her with a sweep of his hand.

“But that doesn’t change the fact that these gems are innocent!” his voice was cracking, tears forming in his eyes. “So don’t hurt them! Just.. Please, listen to me. If nothing else, I can tell you everything I know - about why she did it, about why she chose the Earth.. about-”

As he gazed up at her, at her enraged features, he realized that it wasn’t just going to be as simple as that.

“About her friends..” he began petering out. “About humans..” no. They were all going to die anyway, because this wasn’t going to end here.

"And I'm _sorry!_ " he shouted. "I'm so sorry you lost someone, and yes, it was her fault-"

He saw the way she scowled at this, and furrowed his brow in a frown. “But.. there’s nothing I can do, is there? Even if I give myself up, this won’t all just _end_. You’ll hurt these gems.. and all my friends. You’ll still punish the gems running this place. And.. you’ll do away with the humans in the zoo as well, won’t you?”

Yellow merely glared down at him, growing less patient by the second.

“You’ll.. come for the Cluster.” His voice cracked. “You’ll destroy my home. You’ll keep being this tyrannical dictator, spreading yourself around space.. forever.”

He blinked and looked down at his own hands briefly in this shining moment of clarity.

“And nothing that happened here would have ever-”

“STEVEN!” the urgent cry came from both Connie and Lars as the diamond quickly rounded on Steven. He threw up his shield just in time - a bolt of Yellow’s lightning blasted straight into it.

He grit his teeth together and waited for it to be over. When it was, all he could see was Yellow rushing him.

Gesturing his arms wider, the shield grew in size and he braced himself for the impact. When it came, it seemed to stop Yellow in her tracks - it at least stopped her fist as she plunged it down toward him. He leaned hard into his shield with everything he could muster, his gem glowing bright through his shirt as he did.

Connie and Lars stared in a kind of shocked incredulousness at their friend’s unexpected display of raw power. But Steven was straining, beginning to give, whereas the diamond was showing no signs of pulling back anytime soon.

Lars was unable to rip his eyes away from it. He’d thought briefly of the weapon secretly stowed in his head, but Steven had made him believe. He shot an arm out to blindly grab at Connie’s shoulder. “H-how do we help him!?”

Connie had already been racking her brain. Holding the sword aloft, she immediately pointed up. “Get me up there!”

The bare bones of her insane plan took a second to register. “..What!”

But she was sold already. “Do it!” she commanded.

A moment later, Connie dropped from a portal to land - not on top of of Yellow’s head like she wanted, but rather, somewhere on her upper back. The shallow slash damage she dealt with the sword proved insufficient to poof the enormous diamond, of course, but it was enough to gather her attention. She pulled away from Steven and began trying to smack Connie from her, for all the world as though she was batting away a mildly annoying gnat.

Steven stumbled forward a couple of steps and squinted as he whipped the shield up at the distracted diamond. He breathed heavily as he summoned a new one, and it soon followed suit. That combined with a shout from Lars sent the diamond backward a few steps.

Connie yelped as she lost contact and plummetted backward. Steven dashed forward and leapt high up into the air to grab her.

They touched down again as Stevonnie just in time to see Yellow Diamond rounding back onto the defenseless gemstone of the pleading rose quartz.

“No!” cried Stevonnie. “WAIT. We.. we have her shards!”

This gave Yellow Diamond pause, but she was sure it was yet another con. “More nonsense!”

“I tried to heal her, to bring her back.. but it didn’t work!” they cried out desperately. “I.. I can try again! I can try harder!”

“More _lies,_ ” came Yellow’s bitter verdict as she began to place pressure on the gemstone of the quartz who had beseeched her, moments earlier.

“A pity. The Earth once held so much promise.”

Her words were punctuated by the distinct sound of the gemstone cracking beneath the diamond’s gravity connector, and spurred the fusion and the guy into action.

She swatted Lars back like a fly, but Stevonnie was tougher and proved a more formidable foe.

In a panic, Lars staggered up from where he’d crumpled on the ground. He summoned and grabbed the little orange cube from his forehead - the anti-gem weapon he’d unwittingly come into possession of. As he held it limply in his hands, he looked back up - and suddenly felt torn.

He witnessed the way the fusion was now dancing circles around the diamond - both in the air and on the ground. He saw the sword connect a few times - not enough to poof the tyrant, but potentially getting ever closer.

Stevonnie’s bubble - armed with spikes - enveloped them at one point, and with a gesture it burst outward, dealing enough of a blast to cause Yellow to stagger back.

Lars hid behind a nearby pillar to avoid getting caught in it, but was back out in no time. He watched her as she regained her footing this time - she seemed slower, less vital. Emboldened by the reborn idea that maybe they _could_ win, he had an idea and opened up a portal.

Stevonnie grit their teeth and leapt forward - and gasped. Another lightning strike from Yellow, which their shield promptly blocked.

Yellow growled in annoyance and tried again, only to find herself knocked to the side by a concussive blast from the annoying pink creature dropping from a shiny rip in space midair.

She didn’t fall, though - she had far too much dignity for that. She caught her footing quickly. Fists balled, she decided she’d had enough.

Her plan to keep the rebellious Rose Quartz around long enough to watch her destroy the rest of her cut and the Earth fell by the wayside. Yellow refused to hold back anymore, and rounded for the last time upon the fusion.

She rushed them, intending to stomp them underfoot. But the fusion hurriedly leapt to the side as her heel plunged into the flooring beside them. It was a close call. Yellow pulled it free and swung it across, sending Stevonnie crashing into a pillar, which cracked and crumbled a little.

Yellow smiled to herself as she watched the fusion push themselves back limply, struggling to stay on their feet.

The diamond readied herself to deliver a fist directly into the shaking fusion.

“Look out!” Lars cried as he ran forward a few steps before needing to jump back to narrowly dodge a blast from Yellow. He dropped the cube as he did and it clattered across the floor.

The fusion caught sight of it. There was no hesitation, no hint of an inner debate as the overwhelmed Stevonnie changed tack and threw themself at it, swiping it up from the floor as they did.

 

* * *

 

Zee was biting her lip in consternation as she finally delivered the deciding blow to the topaz she’d been fighting, only to find another directly behind her. Ruby backflipped out of the way of a deadly saber thrust by an agate, who was growing increasingly frustrated by the deft little ruby. Wy felt the spear of her opponent slice through her physical form and redoubled her efforts to make her final seconds count, and Skinny was in the middle of a gleeful taunt as she sent an unfamiliar jasper reeling backward to land on her butt. She hadn't realized yet, but the other jasper's sword had ripped through her.

Peridot by now was using her metal powers to fling busted pieces of the deteriorating Metal Pumpkin at their enemies as Carnelian and Amethyst worked together to keep them from being swarmed.

The door of the Battle Room had been compromised and Padparadscha clutched the handle of the destabilizer, holding it out in front of her as a couple of citrines made their casual approach. They were laughing about how easy this was going to be.

The diffuse glow that lit the interior of the space station blinked out as the wave propagated in all directions outward into space. With it died the artificial gravity and all other systems.

The darkness was accompanied by a sudden silence - the din of battle was no more.

Every light-composed body was forcibly released in a smoky haze, joining the ones that had already been poofed during the course of the battle.

 

* * *

 

_“Now it’s time too҉o̶̠̝͍o̳͙̲͝ơ̠̻̹-”_

It was the worst time for Little Voice to abandon her startled denizens, but it couldn’t be helped.

The bright blue midafternoon sky went dark as the waterfalls shut off. As the unstill lakewater lifted up into the air in a glob, the zooman tribe also found themselves floating directionless in the sudden zero gravity.

There, they were witness for the first time to the stark black of the void on all sides of their little world.

It was far darker than their typical projected nighttime phase, and it scared them. These real stars seemed colder, and the purely incomprehensible presence of the magnificent ringed gas giant, a handful of visible scattered moons and a much smaller, sharper sun, visible in the inky black - none of it made any sense to them.

Neither did the idling ships of Yellow Diamond’s compromised army haphazardly floating in orbit with them.

The naive captives gazed long up into this unpleasant vision, a deep horror for the first time gripping their minds.

“W-what is it time for, Little Voice!?” cried Wy-Six, upside down, losing his mind. “ _What is it time fooor!?!_ ”

 

* * *

 

And Yellow Diamond’s gemstone floated large, high up near the ceiling of the late Pink Diamond’s lavish, darkened room; now lit only by the light reflecting in from the gas giant visible through the ceiling windows.

Neither Stevonnie nor Lars were particularly present enough to witness any of this, however - folding in agony as they were.

Stevonnie tried to keep ahold of the cube, but their hands were weakened and they lost their grip of it. Every feeble grab for it sent it floating inches further away from them, slowly out of their reach as they pulled their knees into their torso, hunching down into themselves.

Trying to shake it off was no good - it was a full blown, full-bodied and deeply rending ache turned up to eleven. It wasn’t helped by the lack of gravity, either - there was nothing they could hold onto, to bare down into, while they were experiencing this wrenching pain. Nothing to grip for comfort barring themselves, and that too was agony.

 _Unfuse,_ their writhing components urged each other, _UNFUSE_

But simply unfusing was not forthcoming - the magic in their gem suppressed as they existed as a hybrid fusion with the critical, binding piece of their being no longer able to fuel them as their organic body tried its best to break apart.

They quickly degenerated into a broken, sobbing, unrelentingly tense and shaking mess in thin air.

Eventually, they struck out with a quivering hand toward the weapon. After a moment, they realized it had worked a little - they were slightly closer to it.

All of Stevonnie’s fading attention was fixated on the cube as they strove to reach it - forcing their limbs to work, they pulled themself through slippery air, despite their increasing pain, ever toward it.

After sheer minutes, their hand connected with it. Grimacing, sweating, they pulled it into themself.

Their vision grayed out as they placed their other hand on the other side of the cube.

Slowly, weakly, they pushed the extended sides back in.

 

* * *

 

“We could’ve done it ourselves,” Connie croaked, seconds later. She was still floating in midair, staring up through the transparent ceiling, at the uncaring gas giant they were orbiting. At its many beautiful rings.

Her tears lacked the impetus to fall - instead, they clogged her eyes as her hair swayed around her.

“Why did you do that, Steven?”

Steven swung his arms around to try to steady himself. The floor wasn’t too far below him. He stared helplessly at the rose quartz gemstones - having been upset during the fight like dust particles to the wind, they were now strewn haphazardly all over the floor and dotting the air around them. He struggled to put it all together.

“ _I_ didn’t do it,” he realized, voice cracking. “It was Stevonnie. That.. was the weapon you didn’t take, wasn’t it?” He frowned over at Lars who was also struggling to orient himself without the aid of gravity.

Steven wiped thick globs of salty water from his eyes, in lieu of some kind of force of nature doing it for him. “How come you had it?”

Lars finally came in contact with something - the base of a nearby pillar, and clutched his fingers into the grooves carved into it to prevent himself floating off again. He caught the question and glanced over at Steven. “I.. uh-” he swallowed as tears spilled out, blinding him, and began explaining himself instead. “But, there was a moment when - a-and.. I changed my mind! I thought you could do it-”

Connie groaned in frustration. “Argh! It.. doesn’t matter!”

She grabbed the sword out of the air nearby and swam with her arms and legs up to the little orange cube. She attempted to lift the sword, wanting nothing more but to smash it down into it. Steven watched, alarmed, while Lars waited passively.

Connie of course struggled to achieve this goal in a field without gravity or much in the way of friction, and soon found it pointless an endeavor enough to just let go of the sword, which merely hovered in place. The boys looked on to find her face a mask of hopelessness as the cube sat unharmed in the air before her. She folded her arms, glaring at it, frustrated.

Steven noticed one of the rose quartz gemstones floating past him. Pearl’s was also hanging limply in the air, unharmed, not far from where it had fallen. He exhaled and, following Connie’s example, propelled himself up through the air.

As he approached Yellow Diamond’s vulnerable gemstone hovering high above the floor, he noticed for the first time how small it actually was - not much taller, perhaps, than he himself.

He extended his tired hands toward it and a huge bubble unfolded into being around it.

It should have felt good. He knew that this should have felt like a victory, but instead it felt cheap.

“I didn’t want this,” his voice was soft as tears threatened to bud once more in the corners of his eyes. “I wanted to _explain._ ”

“Steven,” Connie called up - or down, from her perspective - at him before trying her best to get over to him without the help of traditional floor/shoe friction. “You did the best you could.”

But Steven’s face betrayed the trouble plaguing his mind. “No. I could’ve tried harder.”

Connie gazed with sad eyes at her exhausted best friend.

He hesitated before adding, “It could have turned out different.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> That's it for Phase Three, which I really wanted to end in exactly this scenario - Steven, Connie and Lars floating alone in a dead space station :D
> 
> \---
> 
> I’ve got a bunch of life stuff happening/coming up, so I probably can’t sustain the weekly update schedule I’ve imposed upon myself since March - therefore, future updates may be a little more sporadic - Like this one was!! 
> 
> DGMW, I loved the schedule - Forcing myself to post ~5k words (usually more) every week was great for productivity, but sometimes I felt the writing could have been much better if I’d let myself chill on it from time to time. I’ll try to keep it up but maybe fortnightly or something.
> 
> I do hope no one is terribly disappointed by all this.
> 
> Also I got a Tumblr - follow me at loveluckylost if you wanna see the odd pic I gone done peppered in amongst a ton of reblogged stuff I find interesting. Sometimes complaining/making observations about the process of writing. Asks are also welcome!
> 
> \---
> 
> Writing this has been really fun and I just wanna say big thanks to you for reading this thing. I hope you’ve been enjoying it.
> 
> Also argh that movie, right? I loved it!!


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